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The Wireless Operator— 
With the U. S. Coast Guard 


BOOKS BT 

LEWIS E. THEISS 


IN CAMP AT FORT BRADY. A Camping Story. 
304 pages. 

HIS BIG BROTHER. A Story of the Struggles and 
Triumphs of a Little Son of Liberty. 320 pages. 

LUMBERJACK BOB. A Tale of the Alleghanies. 

320 pages. 

THE WIRELESS PATROL AT CAMP BRADY. A 
Story of How the Boy Campers, Through Their 
Knowledge of Wireless, “ Did Their Bit.” 320 pages. 

THE SECRET WIRELESS. A Story of the Camp Brady 
Patrol. 320 pages. 

THE HIDDEN AERIAL. The Spy Line on the Moun¬ 
tain. 332 pages. 

THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR—AFLOAT. 
How Roy Mercer Won His Spurs in the Merchant 
Marine. 320 pages. 

THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR—AS A FIRE 
PATROL. The Story of a Young Wireless Amateur 
Who Made Good as a Fire Patrol. 352 pages. 

THE YOUNG WIRELESS OPERATOR—WITH THE 
OYSTER FLEET. How Alec Cunningham Won 
His Way to the Top in the Oyster Business. 328 pages. 

Cloth Bound—Illustrated by Colored 
Plates and Photographs 









































































































A U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Surrounded by Icebergs 











The Wireless Operator— 
With the U. S. Coast Guard 


By 

LEWIS EDWIN THEISS 



W. A. WILDE COMPANY 

BOSTON CHICAGO 













& 


Appreciation is herewith extended to the United 
States Coast Gruard and the International Newsreel 
for the use of photographic material. 


Copyrighted, 1924, 

By W. A. Wilde Company 
All rights reserved 

©C1A807610 „ - 

The Wireless Operator— 
With the U. S. Coast Guard 


OCT 31 


Made in U. S. A. 



To those unsung heroes , 
men of the U. S. Coast Guard\ 
this book is dedicated 


AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION 


\ MONG all the various arms of government 
in our nation, no arm is at once less known 
or more worthy of renown than the Coast Guard. 
Like the knights of the Table Round, this com¬ 
pany of gallant surfmen and sailors is organized 
and exists almost solely for the protection of 
others. Though few in numbers, the Coast Guard 
accomplishes deeds that are mighty. Skill of the 
highest order, daring incredible, and discipline 
that is perfect, make a giant of this little service. 
Stout of heart, indeed, must be the men who 
belong to it; for when others are fleeing for their 
lives, the Coast Guard is always heading straight 
for the danger, to rescue those incompetent or 
unable to effect their own rescue. Let those who 
think the age of romance is past but read the 
story of the Coast Guard and they will change 
their minds. 

For those who demand that fiction be based 
upon actual occurrence, the author wishes to say 
that this book is hardly more than a transcript 
from life. Every major incident in it is based 
upon an actual happening. It was the Coast 
Guard cutter Yamacraw that lost six boatloads 
of seamen in the surf while attempting to rescue 
7 


8 


AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION 


a helpless steamer. It was the Seneca that 
searched the wintry seas for the helpless oil 
tanker that had been abandoned by the tug tow¬ 
ing it. And the final incident in the book, in 
which a stricken freighter sinks in a storm, and 
the wireless operator ministers calmly to his com¬ 
mander in the face of almost certain death, is 
but a poor attempt to recite the story of “ Smil¬ 
ing Jimmy Nevins,” a mere lad, who went smil¬ 
ing to his death as a member of a volunteer crew 
from the Seneca, in an effort to save a torpedoed 
freighter for the Allies during the recent World 
War. 

In preparation for the writing of this story, 
the author spent some time aboard both the 
Seneca and the Tampa. He wishes here to ex¬ 
press his admiration for the Coast Guard as a 
whole, and his very great indebtedness to Cap¬ 
tain B. H. Camden, of the Seneca, Captain Wm. 
J. Wheeler, of the Tampa, Lieutenant C. C. 
Von Paulson, of the Tampa, and Chief Elec¬ 
trician Belton Miller, of the Seneca, for their 
kindly assistance. Each of the four has played 
a heroic part in some of the deeds portrayed in 
this book. 

Lewis E. Theiss. 

Lewisburg, Pa. 

February 28, 1923. 


FOREWORD 


Reading into the present the history of 
the early mariner along our shores, one is im¬ 
pressed with the march of civilization. Insti¬ 
tutions having for their purpose the saving of 
human life are products of civilization—a part 
of the great scheme of humanization. 

This volume, dedicated “To those un¬ 
sung heroes, the men of theU. S. Coast Guard,” 
is an interesting, an engaging, and a compelling 
portrayal of the everyday work of the Coast 
Guard, with its vicissitudes, hardships, perils 
and accomplishments. The Coast Guard in fact 
is an establishment of service and opportunity 
— service to those whose fortunes are cast with 
the deep and along our shores, opportunity for 
the young men of the nation of character, sta¬ 
bility and fixedness of purpose, to follow the 
Stars and Stripes in the ever-beautiful cause of 
humanity. 

F. C. BILLARD, Rear Admiral, 
U. S. Coast Guard, Commandant 







CONTENTS 


I. 

Henry Seeks His Fortune 

- 

- 

13 

II. 

A Fight for Life 

- 

- 

29 

III. 

The Search for the Derelict 

- 

- 

43 

IV. 

The Watch in the Dark - 

- 

- 

58 

V. 

The Destruction of the Derelict 

- 

72 

VI. 

A Call for Help 

- 

- 

88 

VII. 

A Tramp of the Seas 

- 

- 

102 

VIII. 

In the Cradle of the Deep 

- 

- 

115 

IX. 

The City of Paul Revere 

- 

- 

127 

X. 

A Ship in Distress - 

- 

- 

146 

XI. 

Lost in the Sea 

- 

- 

162 

XII. 

The Rescue - 

- 

- 

172 

XIII. 

Henry Finds He Has an Enemy 

- 

186 

XIV. 

A Catastrophe - - - 


- 

196 

XV. 

Under a Cloud 

- 

- 

208 

XVI. 

The Mystery Grows Deeper 

- 

- 

218 

XVII. 

A Ship in Distress - 

- 

- 

228 

XVIII. 

A Clue to the Culprit - 

- 

- 

248 

XIX. 

The Culprit Discovered - 

- 

- 

259 

XX. 

Henry’s Exoneration 

- 

- 

265 

XXI. 

Among the Icebergs - 

- 

- 

281 

XXII. 

Victory - - 

- 

- 

294 


The Wireless Operator— 
With the U. S. Coast Guard 


CHAPTER i 

HENRY SEEKS HIS FORTUNE 

TTENRY HARPER was making his way 
down the longest street in the world as fast 
as the jam of traffic would allow. But this long¬ 
est street in the world, Broadway in New York 
City, is also one of the world’s busiest thorough¬ 
fares, and, despite his haste, Henry Harper 
could proceed but slowly. It was the noon hour, 
and the sidewalks were jammed with thousands 
upon thousands of clerks, stenographers, busi¬ 
ness men, and other busy workers, going to or 
from their luncheons. The streets were over¬ 
flowing with vehicular traffic, as the sidewalks 
were with foot-passengers. No matter to which 
side Henry darted, there was always some per¬ 
son or some vehicle in front of him, and so, 
though quivering with impatience, he was obliged 
to curb his speed and make his way the best he 
could among pedestrians and trucks. He was 
bound for the office of the United States Secret 
Service, and it seemed to him that he would 
13 


14 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


never get there. He had just come to New York 
from his home in Central City, Pennsylvania, 
and he was on his way to see his old friend Willie 
Brown, who had some time previously won a 
position with the Secret Service. 

When, finally, he did reach his destination, 
Henry found himself facing a situation that 
troubled him a great deal more than he cared to 
admit. Willie Brown was not in the office. 
What was more, Willie was not even in town. 
He had been sent away on some special duty. 
The office boy did not know when Willie would 
return. All he knew was that Willie had started 
on a trip that would probably last two or three 
weeks, and there was no one in the office who 
could give Henry any more definite information. 
All the clerks were out at luncheon, but they 
probably wouldn’t know where Willie was going, 
anyway. And the Chief, who had given Willie 
his orders in person, had left for the day. 

If Henry had wanted to see Willie merely to 
renew old acquaintanceship, the situation would 
have been unpleasant enough. But it was a 
thousand times worse than that, for Henry had 
come to New York upon Willie’s express invi¬ 
tation, and the latter was going to try to help 
him get a job. Henry had not told him exactly 
when he would arrive, and so he could not blame 
him for not being on hand or for not leaving 3 , 


HENRY SEEKS HIS FORTUNE 15 

message for him. Willie’s absence made it 
mighty unpleasant for Henry, though, for the 
latter had expected to be his guest, and his funds 
were slender. Indeed, he had little more than 
enough money to pay his return car fare. Two 
or three days at a New York hotel would exhaust 
these funds entirely. No wonder Henry looked 
worried as he slowly left the building and stepped 
once more into the seething jam on Broadway. 

“ I’ll slip over to the Confederated Steamship 
Office,” thought Henry to himself. “ I know 
the Lycoming is at sea, and Roy won’t be back 
in New York for almost a week. But maybe I 
can find some one who can help me out of my 
difficulty.” So he headed hopefully toward the 
piers on the Hudson River front, occupied by 
the coastwise steamship line for which another 
of his old chums, Roy Mercer, now worked as a 
wireless operator on the steamer Lycoming. 

Again he was doomed to disappointment. Not 
a ship lay in the docks. Not an official of any 
sort could be found about the place. Only a 
watchman was in charge, at the gate, and he 
proved to be gruff and surly. If only one of 
the Lycoming's sister ships had been in port, 
Henry would have appealed to the wireless 
operator on her, and trusted to the freemasonry 
that exists among wireless men generally. But 
there was no such luck for him. Apparently 


16 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


there was no one he could reach to whom he could 
appeal. Here he was, stranded in the metropolis, 
without a friend or an acquaintance, with no job 
in sight, and with only a very few dollars in his 
pocket. It was a situation to take the heart out 
of almost any boy. 

But Henry was no ordinary boy. To begin 
with, he was approaching manhood. In a year 
or two he would be old enough to vote. He was 
as large as most men, and as independent men¬ 
tally as he was sturdy physically, so he did not 
become alarmed and panic-stricken, as a younger 
lad might have, but set himself to think out the 
best course he could pursue. He knew that all 
he had to do was to find some way to tide himself 
over until either Roy or Willie returned, and 
things would be all right. 

Nevertheless he was worried about his money. 
For even though he could readily borrow from 
his friends upon their return, it wouldn’t be 
exactly an easy thing to repay the loan. The 
money in his pocket was about all the money he 
had in the world. 

With Roy and Willie, he had belonged to the 
Camp Brady Wireless Patrol. Indeed, it was 
Henry himself who had organized that little 
group of boys, and who had made the first wire¬ 
less set they possessed, by the use of some pat¬ 
terns given him by an uncle. And he had become 


HENRY SEEKS HIS FORTUNE 


17 


probably the most expert wireless operator in the 
patrol. In fact, during an emergency he had 
served for a time as a government operator in 
the big wireless station at Frankfort, not so 
many miles from his home in Central City. 

When he thought of those days Henry sighed, 
almost with bitterness. Then he was the leader 
in every respect. Not only was he the oldest boy 
in the Wireless Patrol, but he was farthest ad¬ 
vanced. In the nature of things he should by 
this time have been far along the road to success, 
and in a position to help his friends; whereas it 
had actually turned out that he was behind them 
all, and that they were helping him instead. Yet 
it was no fault of Henry’s. His father’s death 
had thrown upon him the burden of supporting 
not only himself but his mother as well. Henry 
had given up his work at the high school for a 
time, but his mother had insisted upon his com¬ 
pleting it. It had taken him twice as long to 
finish his course this way as it would have, could 
he have gone on without interruption. But now 
he was glad he had listened to his mother. Even 
though he was so late getting started, he knew 
he would go farther in the end. 

But was he started? The question worried 
Henry so much that he could hardly think. He 
had come to New York with high hopes of get¬ 
ting a real start, and now he seemed about to 


18 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


waste the few remaining dollars he possessed. 
What should he do? The roar of the traffic dis¬ 
turbed him. He could not think connectedly. 
He wanted to compose himself, so he made his 
way down the water-front to Battery Park, 
where he might be undisturbed while he thought 
out his problem. 

But the familiar scenes in Battery Park set a 
new train of thought in motion in his head, and 
utterly defeated, for the time, his plan to think 
out his course of action, for in front of him, as 
he sat on a park bench, was the old, familiar 
harbor, with its seething waters and its throbbing 
life. And straight across the rolling waves was 
Staten Island, where he had spent those memo¬ 
rable days in that never-to-be-forgotten hunt for 
the secret wireless of the Germans, during the 
war, when the Secret Service had accepted the 
proffered help of the Wireless Patrol in the 
search for the treacherous spies that were betray¬ 
ing the movements of American transports. 
How clearly all the incidents of that search for 
the secret wireless now stood out in Henry’s 
mind. He could recall, as though it had been 
but yesterday, the departure of the selected unit 
of the patrol—Roy Mercer and Lew Heinsling 
and Willie Brown and himself—from Central 
City, and their meeting with their leader, Cap¬ 
tain Hardy, and the tedious watch for the Ger- 


HENRY SEEKS HIS FORTUNE 


19 


man spies, lasting through weeks, which began 
in upper Manhattan and ended in Staten Island. 

And when Henry thought of the snug little 
headquarters they had had in a private house in 
Staten Island, with a delightful elderly couple, 
he jumped to his feet and almost shouted with 
relief. Why hadn’t he thought of those old peo¬ 
ple before? They would take him in and tide 
him over until his friends returned. They would 
be glad to see him again, too. Henry felt sure 
of that, and, sighing with relief, he leaped to his 
feet, seized his little suit-case, and hustled over 
to the near-by municipal ferry-house, just in time 
to catch an outgoing boat for Staten Island. 

Eased in mind, he now eagerly watched the 
harbor, thrilling with the stirring scenes before 
him. Six miles as the crow flies lay the course 
across the bay to Staten Island, and this six miles 
was alive with shipping. Everywhere vessels 
were moving. Sister ferry-boats were ploughing 
the waves straight toward Staten Island. In the 
Hudson and the East Rivers more ferry-boats 
were crossing back and forth. Big steamers were 
moving majestically along. Tugboats without 
number churned the choppy waves to foam, some 
riding in solitary state, and some towing long 
strings of barges at the ends of great hawsers. 
Others were snuggled in between big lighters, 
like porters with huge bandboxes under each arm. 


20 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


In the anchorages below the Statue of Liberty 
great tramp ships rode idly at anchor, awaiting 
cargoes. And on the opposite side of the bay, 
below Governor’s Island, stately sailing ships 
rolled gently in their moorings. Motor-boats, 
yachts, sailboats, even an occasional rowboat, 
moved this way and that. The surface of the 
water was crossed and recrossed with lines of 
yeasty foam, churned up by the passing craft, 
while the air was vibrant with the ceaseless toot¬ 
ing of ships’ whistles. 

And there was Governor’s Island, with its an¬ 
tiquated round fort, and the ancient cannons atop 
of it. And farther along was the newly-made 
part of the island, filled in with thousands of 
loads of material brought by barges. On this 
made land now stood row upon row of govern¬ 
ment sheds and warehouses erected during the 
war. And Henry recalled the still more stir¬ 
ring scenes during those days of struggle, when 
every possible anchorage was occupied, and the 
boats of the Coast Guard went rushing about 
with their peremptory orders to incoming steam¬ 
ers, like traffic police of the harbor, as indeed 
they were. And as his boat drew near the ferry- 
house at St. George, Henry saw a Coast Guard 
cutter herself lying at anchor close to the Staten 
Island shore. How trim and beautiful she 
looked, in her shining white paint, with her flags 


HENRY SEEKS HIS FORTUNE 


21 


flying, and her motor-boat lying lazily along¬ 
side. 

But now the great ferry-boat was coming to 
rest in her dock. The clank of pawls, as the 
deck-hands made the huge craft fast, the lower¬ 
ing of the gangways, and the hurried rush of 
feet, made Henry take his gaze away from the 
fascinating harbor scene, for the crowd was mov¬ 
ing and he had to move with it. In another mo¬ 
ment he had stepped ashore and found himself 
outside the ferry-house. 

An interesting place, indeed, was this St. 
George terminal. Henry had journeyed on the 
upper deck of the ferry-boat, and now he found 
himself in the upper part of the ferry-house. 
There were all the usual features of a great wait¬ 
ing-room—long rows of seats, and news-stands, 
and quick-lunch counters, and fruit-stands. 
None of these interested Henry. His attention 
was centred on the scene without. The edge of 
the island was a low-lying fringe of land, now 
given over wholly to shipping facilities—great 
wharves and piers and wide roadways skirting 
the water’s edge. Inland a few hundred yards 
the ground rose sharp and steep, and these slop¬ 
ing terraces were covered with buildings. Skirt¬ 
ing the hilly heart of the island, roads wound 
downward, meeting directly in front of the ferry 
building, and reaching that structure by a long, 


22 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


sloping approach. These converging roads 
made Henry think of a huge funnel, with the 
sloping ferry-approach as its small end. And 
the idea of a funnel was carried out by the way 
this approach poured traffic into the ferry-ter¬ 
minal. Trolley cars, motor cars, and pedestrians 
swarmed down it in endless procession. Seem¬ 
ingly all the roads in Staten Island converged at 
the upper end of this ferry-approach, and 
shunted their burdens toward the crowded ferry- 
house. 

Up this ferry-approach Henry made his way 
until he came to the end of it, where it split into 
divergent roads. A moment he stood here, wait¬ 
ing a favorable opportunity to cross the road. 
While waiting, he noticed a man on the opposite 
curb, who was likewise held up by the traffic, and 
who was evidently impatient of delay. Suddenly 
the man swung from the curb and tried to worm 
his way across the thoroughfare, among the mov¬ 
ing vehicles. He had a bulging suit-case in one 
hand and a large package in the other. Henry 
judged that he was hurrying to catch a boat. 

The stranger was half-way across the street, 
when a recklessly driven car, rushing up the 
ferry-approach, made the nearest drivers on the 
upper roads swing sharply to one side. That 
caused all the traffic to turn out. The man cross¬ 
ing the road was so laden with bundles that he 


HENRY SEEKS HIS FORTUNE 23 

could not move quickly enough, and he was 
caught directly in front of an oncoming motor 
truck. With a leap, Henry was at the pedes¬ 
trian’s side. Seizing him by the arm, he dragged 
him to safety. But the car in passing knocked 
the parcel from the man’s arm and broke it open, 
scattering its contents on the road. The car be¬ 
hind promptly stopped, blocking the traffic. 
Henry snatched up the scattered contents of the 
parcel and jumped back to the sidewalk. Then 
he took the suit-case himself, while the stranger 
bundled the contents of the broken parcel under 
his arms, and together they made their way to 
the ferry-house. 

Henry’s companion was a heavy-set man of 
ruddy complexion, whose strong face showed 
both firmness of character and kindness of spirit. 

“ That fellow would have got me sure,” he 
said indignantly, “ if it hadn’t been for you, sir. 
They ought to put about half of these motor-car 
drivers in jail.” 

“ They’re pretty reckless,” Henry agreed. 

“ I don’t know how I am ever going to repay 
you,” said the man. “ You probably saved my 
life.” 

“ I don’t want any pay,” said Henry. “ If I 
really saved you from harm I am glad.” 

They reached the ferry-house, but, instead of 
entering, the man turned to the right and went 


24 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


down a flight of steps. Then he walked across 
the lower road to the very edge of the wharf, and 
out on a little float. Henry saw at once that the 
man must belong on some one of the ships at 
anchor near by, and was probably waiting for a 
small boat to meet him. 

“ If I can be of no further help to you,” said 
Henry, “ I must be on my way.” 

“ I guess I’m safe enough now,” laughed the 
man. “ And I owe it to you that I got here with 
a whole skin.” He thrust his hand into his 
pocket and pulled out a little roll of bills. 
“ Take these,” he said to Henry, “ and my best 
wishes.” 

Henry looked at the money longingly, but 
only for a second. “ I thank you,” he said, “ but 
I couldn’t do it, sir.” 

“ At least you will shake hands,” smiled the 
stranger, and he thrust out his hand. Henry 
took the proffered hand, shook it warmly, and, 
saying good-bye, turned on his heel. In a few 
moments he was back at the crossing, and a sec¬ 
ond later he had gained the farther curb and was 
absorbed in the study of the old town where he 
had spent such memorable days. 

But what a difference! This was not the town 
of St. George as he knew it at all. How it had 
expanded and been built up. On every hand 
arose unfamiliar buildings. From a little town 


HENRY SEEKS HIS FORTUNE 


25 


the settlement had altered into a city. Where 
once stood little cottages now arose great busi¬ 
ness blocks or towering apartments. No longer 
was this a sleepy little island. It was a pulsing 
part of a great city. 

Rapidly Henry strode along, his pulse stirred, 
as always, by the throbbing life of the great me¬ 
tropolis. On he went, and on and on, until he 
came to the place where he should have seen the 
house of the German spy. It was no longer 
there. A great row of apartments had replaced 
it. And when Henry looked above, at the higher 
level where stood the house in which he and his 
comrades had spent so many thrilling days, again 
he saw a row of towering apartments. The house 
he was seeking no longer existed. 

The realization shocked him. He stopped in 
his tracks and stared. His heart almost stood 
still. His last hope was gone. Then wildly he 
tore up the roadway to the higher level, still hop¬ 
ing that he might find some trace of the people 
he sought. His hope was vain. No name in any 
doorway even remotely suggested the name he 
was looking for, and all whom he questioned gave 
him the same reply,—they did not know any one 
of that name. 

Almost stunned, Henry turned about and 
slowly retraced his footsteps. He was hardly 
conscious of where he was going, but he kept 


26 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


walking, and his footsteps naturally went down¬ 
hill. Before he realized where he was, Henry 
found himself on the water-front. A great, wide, 
cobbled thoroughfare ran along the water’s edge, 
and here, projecting far out into the bay, stood 
pier after pier in a magnificent row, all built as 
a result of the war. But the pulsing life of the 
war days was gone. Many of the piers seemed 
empty or deserted. Few vessels lay in the docks. 
Yet the splendid water-front, once open and un¬ 
obstructed, was now completely shut in by these 
hulking structures. To see the water here, one 
must either go back up the hill, where one could 
see over the pier-sheds, or else go to the seaward 
end of a pier. And no matter how keen his dis¬ 
appointment was, Henry did want to see the 
water-front here. After a little he would go back 
to Manhattan and try to find some quarters 
where he could exist until one of his friends re¬ 
turned, or until he could get a job. But before 
he went back he meant to have a good look at 
this lower end of the harbor, which he loved so 
well. 

Carefully he made his way along the edge of 
a pier, outside of the pier-shed. It chanced to be 
unoccupied. Henry was glad it was so, for there 
would be no one to disturb him. He could enjoy 
the scene to his heart’s content. When he 
reached the outer end of the pier, he set his little 


HENRY SEEKS HIS FORTUNE 


27 


suit-case down and gave himself up to full en¬ 
joyment of the scene. Not far below him were 
the buildings at the quarantine station, and a 
great steamer lay in the Narrows there, evidently 
detained by the quarantine officials. Here were 
no hurrying ferry-boats, but directly off the pier 
on which he stood were anchored a number of 
ocean-going craft. How huge they seemed. 
How alluring was the thought of a voyage 
aboard one of them, even if they were but clumsy 
freighters. There was nothing clumsy about the 
little Coast Guard cutter that lay near them, 
however, and again Henry admired the trim lit¬ 
tle craft. He saw her small boat returning from 
land with some passengers aboard, and he won¬ 
dered at her speed and the way she darted 
through the waves. He could even see the man 
on watch, as he paced back and forth across the 
bridge. 

Presently an ocean liner passed down the Nar¬ 
rows, headed for the open sea. How majestically 
she rode the waves! Her rails were lined with 
people. Henry wondered where they were go¬ 
ing, and when they would be coming back again. 
He watched the great ship until she began to 
grow small in the distance. He was lost in 
thought, his mind with the voyagers on the great 
vessel. There was not a soul about to disturb 
his meditations. No ofte was on the pier, and 


28 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


no ships lay in the docks alongside. How he 
wished he might take a journey abroad, like the 
passengers on that great liner, and see distant 
lands and strange peoples. 

Unconsciously Henry had approached the 
very edge of the pier. He hardly realized that 
only a foot or two of solid planking lay between 
him and the heaving waters. His thoughts were 
entirely centred upon the vanishing steamer. 
He wanted to watch her until he could see her 
no longer. Her course turned her slightly to¬ 
ward the shore, behind some pier-sheds and ship¬ 
ping farther down-stream. Henry craned his 
neck as far as he could, to watch the disappear¬ 
ing vessel. Then he took one step forward, and, 
as he did so, his toe caught under a spike which 
was sticking up an inch or so in the flooring of 
the pier. He lost his balance, and, before he 
could recover himself, pitched head foremost over 
the end of the pier. Then, with no one near to 
aid him, with not a soul to hear his startled cry 
for help, he sank far down into the cold and 
heaving waters. 


CHAPTER II 

A FIGHT FOR LIFE 

confused was Henry that he knew not in 
which direction to strike out. He could not 
tell which way was up and which was down. He 
was afraid to try to swim, lest he drive his body 
still deeper into the water, or swim against a pil¬ 
ing and perhaps knock himself unconscious. In¬ 
stinctively he had taken a deep breath just as he 
struck the water. It was fortunate, for he was 
a long time coming up, and before his natural 
buoyancy lifted him to the surface, he began to 
suffer for air. His lungs seemed to be bursting. 
He felt as though he were suffocating. But just 
when it seemed as though he could hold his breath 
no longer, his head shot up above the water. 

With a gasp Henry sucked in a lungful of 
air, and with it he gulped down a mouthful of 
salt water. He began to cough and as he did so 
a choppy wave hit him smack in the face and he 
swallowed more water. Although he was an ex¬ 
cellent swimmer, he was really in a bad way. All 
of his swimming had been done in smooth, fresh 
water. Pie was not accustomed to salt water and 
the roughness that usually accompanies it. With 
29 


30 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


his face drenched with the spray, his eyes sting¬ 
ing with the salt water, and the choppy, uneven 
waves dashing over him, he knew not how to 
take care of himself, or hardly in which direction 
to try to swim. 

Indeed, it would have bothered even a more 
experienced person to know just where to turn. 
The pier from which Henry had fallen contained 
not a soul, and no boats lay in the long, flanking 
docks. It was useless to look for help from that 
quarter. It was almost as useless to turn to¬ 
ward the ships that lay at anchor some hundreds 
of yards out in the water. Between them and 
the shore the tide was sweeping seaward with 
great power. Even if he could manage to keep 
afloat, it would be almost useless to swim toward 
these ships. He could never hope to stem that 
strong current, and the chance of being seen by 
any lookout on the ships seemed remote indeed to 
Henry. As for getting out of the water, there 
seemed no possible chance of that either. There 
were no ladders, no ropes, no steps visible any¬ 
where along the piers, by which he could mount 
upward. Only the rounded pilings that upheld 
the pier floors offered space to cling to, and these 
were covered with rough barnacles and coated 
with slime. Besides, it would do little good to 
cling to them unless he could first attract the at¬ 
tention of some one. 


A FIGHT FOR LIFE 


31 


With all his might Henry shouted, but he got 
no response. He was fast becoming chilled, for 
the water was very cold. His strength was ebb¬ 
ing, and the swirling eddies sucked him toward 
the pier. Once, indeed, he was drawn entirely 
under the pier, and the choppy water knocked 
him roughly against the pilings. His head 
banged hard against a great spile, and for a 
moment Henry almost lost consciousness. Then 
he recovered his full senses and set himself to fight 
for his life. His strength was going fast, and 
he knew it. Yet he did not allow himself to be¬ 
come panic-stricken. He took a grip on himself, 
turned away from the pier, and struck out with 
all his remaining strength. Whatever happened, 
he would get away from those deadly pilings. 
The thought of dying under the pier, among 
those slimy spiles, chilled him worse than did the 
cold water. 

Incessantly the waves dashed in Henry’s face, 
blinding him. But he kept his mouth shut and 
quickly learned to breathe guardedly, so he swal¬ 
lowed little more water. Before him he could 
dimly distinguish the great black bulk of an an¬ 
chored ship. Even at the risk of being swept sea¬ 
ward, he decided that he would try to swim to it. 

Had it not been for his wet clothing and his 
shoes, which felt like lead, Henry might have 
been able to make it. But his garments held him 


32 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


back terribly. And so, though he continued to 
make headway, he was swept swiftly along with 
the tide, out toward the open sea. From time 
to time he shouted and waved a hand aloft, trying 
to attract attention. All at once he realized that 
he could never gain his goal, and the thought 
struck sudden terror to his heart. Still he strug¬ 
gled on, but his strokes grew feebler and feebler. 
His vision became so confused he could not see 
anything clearly. He was so utterly tired as to 
be almost exhausted. Indeed, his movements had 
become almost mechanical, and he had all but 
lost consciousness when he was startled by the 
sharp clang of a bell and the noisy churning of 
water close at hand. Then something took him 
by the coat-collar and he felt himself being bodily 
lifted out of the waves. Again the bell clanged 
sharply, once more a propeller churned the 
waters, and he felt himself moving swiftly over 
the tide. 

It was a full minute before Henry could clear 
his brain and wipe his eyes clean, so that he could 
see. He found himself in a powerful little 
motor-boat, quite evidently built for use at sea, 
that was now scudding along under full power 
direct toward the little white Coast Guard cutter. 
Straight at the cutter charged the little craft. 
When it was only a few yards distant, the bell 
clanged once more, the propeller ceased to re- 


A FIGHT FOR LIFE 


33 


volve, the little boat’s head came sharply about, 
and in another moment the craft was resting be¬ 
side the ship’s ladder. 

“ Can you make it alone?” asked one of the 
sailors in the boat, as Henry rose to his feet and 
stepped on the landing-stage of the cutter. 

“ Sure,” said Henry, who was already recov¬ 
ering his strength. 

“ Then up with you, quick.” 

“ All right,” answered Henry, “ but first I 
want to thank you men for saving me. I couldn’t 
have kept afloat much longer. You got to me 
just in the nick of time. I don’t know what to 
say, to make you understand how I feel.” 

“ Forget it,” smiled the sailor, “ and hustle 
aboard. You’ll get pneumonia if you stay there 
in the wind.” 

Henry turned and started to mount the ladder. 
He noticed that one of the sailors was close be¬ 
hind him, apparently ready to support him if he 
needed help. But Henry was not now in need 
of assistance. His strength was increasing every 
minute. He grasped the ladder-rail and 
mounted upward, and when he looked ahead of 
him, he saw that the cutter’s rail was lined with 
faces. Apparently the entire crew had been 
watching the rescue. 

As he reached the deck, Henry looked about 
him. Dozens of sailors, in their strange blue uni- 


34 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


forms, were gathered forward of the ladder. 
And just aft of it stood a group of officers, look¬ 
ing very brave and trim in their blue uniforms, 
with their gold-braided caps and their gold-em¬ 
broidered sleeves and shoulders. The captain 
looked especially fine. He was a heavy-set man 
with a ruddy countenance. His uniform gave 
him an air of real distinction. Somehow, his face 
looked familiar to Henry, but it was not until 
the man spoke that Henry knew who he was. 

“Bless my stars!” exclaimed the captain, 
when he had taken a good look at Henry. “ If 
it isn’t the lad who saved me from that old motor 
truck a few hours ago! ” Then, without a word 
to Henry, he said: “ Hustle him down to the fire- 
room, rub him briskly, fill him up with hot coffee, 
get him some dry clothes, and, when you get him 
to sweating good, bring him to my cabin. Now, 
step lively.” 

And step lively those sailors did, too. They 
rushed Henry forward and down a steep, iron 
ladder into the hottest room he had ever been in. 
And they stripped off his clothes and rubbed him 
with rough towels until they almost skinned him. 
Then they provided him with dry clothing. 
Meantime a mess-boy brought steaming hot 
coffee from the cook’s galley, and Henry drank 
cup after cup of it. Very grateful, indeed, was 
all this warmth after his chilly bath. Yet it was 


A FIGHT FOR LIFE 


35 


some little time before Henry was really warm. 
But presently he became more than warm. He 
grew hot. Then beads of perspiration broke out 
on his body, and presently he was sweating pro¬ 
fusely. Meantime the ship’s surgeon had come 
into the fireroom and examined his pulse, listened t 
to his heart beat, and given him some sort of a 
dose. Then the doctor led the way up to the 
deck and along to the after companionway and 
so down to the captain’s cabin. 

“ Well, how are you feeling? ” asked the cap¬ 
tain, as Henry and the surgeon entered the 
cabin, after knocking at the door. 

“ First rate,” laughed Henry, “ but about as 
hot as a furnace itself.” 

The captain chuckled. “ That’s good news,” 
he said, “ eh, Doctor? ” 

“ The very best,” said the surgeon. “ He’s all 
right, Captain. I think his ducking will not hurt 
him a bit. He shows no sign of chill or shock 
or any bad after-effect.” 

“ Very good, indeed. But keep your eye on 
him, Doctor. Now that we have got him, we 
don’t want to lose him.” 

The surgeon withdrew, leaving the captain 
and Henry alone in the little cabin. 

“ Tell me, my boy,” said the captain, with 
great kindness, “ how in the world you ever got 
overboard. And, by the way, what happened 


36 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

to your suit-case? Did you lose that over¬ 
board? ” 

“ Gee! ” said Henry. “I forgot all about 
that. IPs back on the pier that I fell from. Is 
there any way I could get it? ” And he began 
to look much worried. 

“ Don’t be alarmed about it,” replied the cap¬ 
tain. “ We’ll have it on board in a jiffy.” 

He stepped to the table in the centre of the 
cabin and pressed a call-button that hung over 
it. An attendant instantly responded. 

“ Rollin,” said the captain, “ tell Lieutenant 
Hill that this lad had a suit-case, and that, unless 
some one has taken it, it is on the pier from which 
he fell. Ask the lieutenant to see that it is 
recovered at once.” 

The attendant raced up the companionway, 
and a moment later Henry heard the clang of the 
bell in the little motor-boat and the churning of 
her propeller. 

“I’m mighty sorry you fell overboard,” con¬ 
tinued the captain, “ but I’m also mighty glad 
to welcome you aboard the Iroquois . After 
what you did for me, it gives me the greatest 
pleasure to be of some slight service to you. Now 
tell me something about yourself. What is your 
name? And where do you come from? Seeing 
that you carry a suit-case, I judge that you do 
not live in New York.” 


A FIGHT FOR LIFE 


37 


“ No, I do not,” said Henry. “ My home is 
in Central City, Pennsylvania, and my name is 
Henry Harper.” 

“ Well, we’ll shake hands, Henry. My name 
is Hardwick—Captain Hardwick.” And he 
thrust out a muscular palm. 

Henry shook the proffered hand. “ I owe you 
my life,” he said. “ I never can thank you ade¬ 
quately, but please believe I am grateful to you.” 

“ Then we are quits. It is a case of tit for tat, 
isn’t it? ” And the captain smiled genially. 
“Now tell me what brings you to New York and 
to Staten Island? ” 

“ Well,” explained Henry, “ I came over to 
New York to see an old friend of mine, Willie 
Brown. He won a place in the Secret Service 
recently and he promised to try to get me a job 
if I would visit him.” 

The captain frowned ever so slightly. “ So 
you have been bitten by the detective bug, too, 
have you? ” he said. 

“ No, sir,” answered Henry. “ I have no 
wish to be a detective, but I do want a job. You 
see, sir, I was graduated from high school only 
last June, and I want to get to work just as 
soon as I can. There do not seem to be many 
very good jobs open to a fellow in a little town 
like Central City.” 

“ I see. It always seems that way. Distance 


38 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


lends enchantment to view. But never mind 
about that. What luck have you had here? ” 

“ About the worst possible,” said Henry, with 
a grim laugh. “ Willie wasn’t in town, and 
won’t be for two or three weeks. And Roy 
Mercer, another of my friends, who is wireless 
man on the Lycoming, is at sea and won’t be in 
port for at least a week. And so I can’t find a 
soul I know.” 

“ But what took you to Staten Island? ” 

Henry hung his head. “You see, Captain 
Hardwick,” he said slowly, “ I—I—didn’t ex¬ 
actly know what to do until Willie or Roy got 
back, and I thought maybe I could find some 
friends in Staten Island. I came here look¬ 
ing for them, but they have moved. It sort of 
upset me, and I went down to the water-front 
to think what I should do. Then I fell over¬ 
board.” 

The captain looked at Henry searchingly. 
“You look big enough and experienced enough 
to take care of yourself for a week, even in New 
York. Why didn’t you go to a hotel and make 
yourself comfortable while you waited for your 
friends? ” 

“ I’d have been only too glad to do so, Cap¬ 
tain, but you see—you see—I came here expect¬ 
ing to be Willie’s guest—and I wasn’t prepared 
to—to-” 



A FIGHT FOR LIFE 


39 


“ Out with it,” said the captain. “ You mean 
you haven’t the money, and you were worried 
about how to get along.” 

“ That’s exactly the case,” said Henry. “ You 
see, Captain, my father is dead, and I had to 
work while I went to school, so it put me behind 
a little. Willie wanted to help me get a job, and 
he offered to take care of me while I was here. 
I had enough money to pay my car fare here and 
back, but that is about all. So you see I couldn’t 
very well go to a hotel.” 

“ Well, bless my stars!” ejaculated the cap¬ 
tain. “ And you wouldn’t take a cent from me 
this morning.” 

“ I couldn’t, Captain. Would you take pay 
from me for saving my life just now? ” 

“ Certainly not, but that’s different. Saving 
life is part of my job. That’s what I’m paid 
for. Besides, I didn’t have a thing to do with it. 
The man on watch saw you fall overboard, and I 
merely ordered out the boat.” 

“ I can at least thank you for ordering out the 
boat. And I want to do something to show my 
gratitude to the men who fished me out of the 
water. I was almost gone when they got me, 
Captain Hardwick.” 

Again the captain stepped to his call-bell. 
“ Rollin,” he said, when the attendant appeared, 
“ tell Lieutenant Hill to send the crew of the 


40 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


motor-boat to my cabin when they get back with 
this lad’s suit-case.” 

“ Yes, sir. I think they are here now, sir.” 
And the attendant hurried up the companionway. 

A moment later three sailors appeared, one of 
them carrying Henry’s suit-case. They came 
into the cabin and stood at attention. 

Henry jumped to his feet. “ I don’t know 
your names,” he said, “ but my name is Henry 
Harper. I want to thank you for what you did 
for me. If you hadn’t got me, my mother would 
have been left all alone, without any one to take 
care of her. I don’t know what to say to you, 
but please believe that I am deeply grateful.” 

The sailors were pleased, though they made 
light of the event. “ Forget it, kid,” one of them 
said. “ It’s all in the day’s work.” 

“ Then I’ll say it’s a pretty fine sort of work 
you men do,” replied Henry. He shook hands 
heartily with his rescuers, and the three sailors 
went tramping up to the deck. 

“ You told the truth, Henry,” said the cap¬ 
tain, after the sailors had gone, “ when you said 
they were engaged in a fine sort of work. It is 
a life full of hardships, this life of a Coast Guard, 
and yet the men love it. If you are looking for 
a job, you can find an opening right in this 
service.” 

“ What could I do? ” asked Henry. “ I don’t 


A FIGHT FOR LIFE 


41 


know a thing about the sea. I don’t have any 
desire to be a mechanic, and so I wouldn’t make a 
good engineer. And I really would not care to 
be a sailor.” 

“ You might become a wireless man, like your 
friend on the Lycoming . You could doubtless 
learn to operate the wireless as well as he can.” 

Henry smiled. “ There wouldn’t be any 
trouble about the wireless,” he said. “ I’ve 
already worked for Uncle Sam as an operator.” 

“ The dickens you have! Tell me about it.” 

And Henry told Captain Hardwick all about 
the Wireless Patrol, about the capture by that 
patrol of the German dynamiters at Elk City, 
about the hunt for the secret wireless right in 
Staten Island, and about his serving as a substi¬ 
tute operator in the Frankfort wireless station. 

The captain’s eyes opened wide as he listened 
to the story. “ If there’s anything in having 
plenty of good operators aboard, we ought to be 
safe on this ship,” said the captain, “ for you are 
going to stay here as my guest until your friends 
get back to New York. Meantime, you can find 
out a whole lot about the life on a Coast Guard 
cutter, and perhaps you might decide to enter the 
service yourself.” 

“ Do you mean it, Captain Hardwick? ” asked 
Henry, his heart beating high at the prospect. 

“ Certainly I mean it.” 


42 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


“ And shall we go to sea? ” cried Henry. 

“ Indeed we shall. I received orders just a 
little while ago to destroy a derelict that has been 
sighted off Nantucket Shoals. That’s what 
brought me aboard. You see I live in Staten 
Island—when I’m home. I’m waiting for my 
executive officer. The minute he comes aboard, 
we’ll hoist anchor.” 

“ Thank you, Captain,” cried Henry. 
“ Won’t that be bully! I’ll be more than glad to 
go. But I ought to let my mother know what 
has happened to me. She’ll be worried when no 
letters come.” 

“ Entirely right,” said the captain. “ Here’s 
my desk. You can write her a letter whenever 
you wish. If there was any way to reach her by 
wireless, we could send word to her at once from 
the ship.” 

“Bully!” cried Henry. “Of course I can. 
The fellows at home will be listening in for me 
right after supper. We made that arrangement 
before I left home. I expected to call them up 
on the outfit Willie uses at the Secret Service 
headquarters.” 

“ Very good,” said the captain. “ Then we’ll 
call it settled. And I hope you’ll enjoy every 
minute of our trip.” 


CHAPTER III 


THE SEARCH FOR THE DERELICT 

QO overjoyed was Henry at his sudden good 
fortune that he wanted to throw up his hat 
and cheer. But he knew that would never do. 
To hide the emotion that was struggling for ex¬ 
pression, he stepped into the little stateroom that 
the commander now indicated was to be his, and 
so keen was his interest in this that he promptly 
forgot his desire to make a noise. 

The captain’s cabin was in the after part of the 
ship, and the little staterooms, for there were two 
of them, occupied the very stern. These state¬ 
rooms were twin compartments, one for the cap¬ 
tain and one for his guests. A narrow passage¬ 
way divided them. Each stateroom contained 
a snug-looking bunk, with a round air-port, or 
window, just above it, like a huge eye; and there 
was also a wardrobe, and a dresser with a mirror 
above it. Each stateroom, likewise, led into a 
private bathroom, as comfortably equipped as 
any similar room on land. The enormously high 
sides of the bathtub at once caught Henry’s at¬ 
tention, and he rightly guessed that these were 
43 


4,4 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

to prevent water from slopping out of the tub 
when the ship was plunging in the waves. As 
soon as he had examined his quarters, he un¬ 
packed his little case, stowing his few articles of 
clothing in the dresser. Then he stepped back 
into the cabin to have a look at that. 

Fortunately, the captain had gone on deck, 
and Henry was free to examine things to his 
heart’s content. The cabin would have filled the 
heart of any boy with delight. Occupying a 
cross section of the after part of the ship, it 
reached from side to side of the vessel, with rows 
of round air-ports on either side letting in air and 
light, and giving a view out over the water. 
Along either wall, directly under these air-ports, 
were leather-cushioned seats, where one could sit 
or lie at ease. In the centre of the room was a 
square oak table, now covered with a soft green 
felt cover. A sideboard was built into one side 
of the cabin, and Henry was interested to note 
how all the goblets and dishes were secured so 
that they could not fall from their places. 
Closets were also built into the sides of the room, 
and one corner was occupied by the captain’s 
desk, with his typewriter fixed on a movable shelf 
attached thereto. Doors led mysteriously into 
other parts of the ship, one of which, Henry 
later found, opened into the cabin of the captain’s 
steward or mess attendant. And of course there 


THE SEARCH FOR THE DERELICT 45 


were comfortable chairs and electric lights every¬ 
where, and books in a case, and some silver cups 
that Henry found had been won by the crew of 
the Iroquois at the annual manoeuvres of the 
Coast Guard fleet at Cape May, and so many 
other snug and interesting things that he thought 
this was indeed the most delightful place he had 
ever been in. And now that the captain was not 
present, he wanted more than ever to give a loud 
whoop or two. 

It is altogether likely that he would have done 
so, too, had he not just then heard the clang of 
the motor-boat’s bell alongside, and in another 
moment footsteps sounded in the companion way. 
Then the captain entered the cabin, followed by 
a tall, muscular-looking officer in full uniform. 

“ Mr. Harris,” said the captain, “ this is my 
young friend, Henry Harper. He is going to 
be my guest for a few days. Henry, this is my 
executive officer, Mr. Harris.” 

The two shook hands, and Henry knew at 
once that he was going to like the tall, frank- 
looking sailor before him. Honesty was written 
all over his face, and his wide-set blue eyes were 
as kindly as they were fearless. The moment he 
had finished greeting Henry, he turned to his 
chief expectantly. 

“ I just got a wireless order to destroy a dere¬ 
lict that was sighted off Nantucket Shoals, well 


46 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


offshore. Suppose you ask the chief engineer to 
get the ship under way at once, Mr. Harris.” 

As the executive officer turned to go, the cap¬ 
tain continued: “ I don’t like the looks of the 
weather. Fog may shut down at any moment. 
We want to get out to sea before it catches us, 
if possible. So tell him to drive her hard.” 

“Very well, sir.” And the captain’s right- 
hand man stepped out of the cabin. 

“ Henry,” said the captain, “ I had better in¬ 
troduce you to the other officers at once. I’ll be 
busy in a little while, and might forget about it. 
Come into the wardroom with me.” 

The captain was hard on the heels of the re¬ 
tiring executive officer. Henry followed his host 
through the companionway door, but instead of 
mounting the steps, the captain entered a second 
door directly opposite his own at the foot of 
the staircase, and Henry, following, found him¬ 
self in the wardroom, or living-room, for the 
other commissioned officers. This was im¬ 
mediately forward of the captain’s cabin, and was 
not unlike it in size and furnishings. Several 
men in uniform sat about a table in the centre of 
the room, reading magazines, playing solitaire, 
or otherwise amusing themselves. All arose as 
the captain entered. 

“ Gentlemen,” said the commander, “ this is 
Henry Harper, who is to be my guest for a few 


THE SEARCH FOR THE DERELICT 47 

days.” Then the captain made Henry ac¬ 
quainted with each man separately, naming them 
as Chief Engineer Farley, Lieutenant Hill, 
Ensign Maxwell, and Dr. Drake, whom Henry 
had already met, although he did not until this 
time know his name. 

“ We’re short-handed, as you see,” said the 
captain, “ but I guess we’ll manage to operate 
the ship anyhow.” And with a pleasantry or 
two, he withdrew. The executive officer de¬ 
livered the captain’s order, and all the officers, 
hearing it, went to their stations. 

“ What did the captain mean when he said you 
were short-handed? ” Henry asked the doctor. 

“Oh! We don’t have our full complement 
of officers. We lack a junior engineer officer 
and a junior lieutenant. It makes it a little 
hard, because the officers we do have must per¬ 
form extra duty.” 

While they were talking Henry suddenly be¬ 
came conscious of a curious vibration in the ship, 
and a low, rumbling noise that filled the air. He 
suspected that the ship’s propeller must be turn¬ 
ing. The ensign confirmed his suspicion when 
he said: “ We’re moving. Would you like to go 
on deck and see how we get under way? ” 

Henry did not know it, but the ensign was 
quite as eager to see as Henry himself could 
possibly be. The ensign was fresh from the 


48 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


Coast Guard Academy, and this was his first trip 
as a commissioned officer. Henry was grateful 
for the courtesy, and gladly followed the young 
officer up the companionway. 

“ Come up on the bridge,” said the ensign. 
“ As the captain’s guest, you will be free to go 
anywhere. We can see better there.” 

Interesting as the sights about them were, the 
things to be seen on deck were even more inter¬ 
esting to Henry. And he made his way forward 
very leisurely, as he took the first good look at 
the Iroquois he had had opportunity to take. He 
noted that the after-deck, from the companion- 
way to the taffrail, was entirely clear and open, 
and was roofed over with a tightly stretched 
awning. Amidships towered the smoke-stack. 
And here, too, was an array of skylights and 
ventilators, all open now, but so arranged, Henry 
saw, that in time of rough weather they could be 
securely battened down. And there were iron 
doors leading directly downward into the bowels 
of the ship. One of them was the door through 
which Henry had descended to the fireroom. 
Close by the after companionway rose a stately 
mast. High up on it was the barrel-like “ crow’s- 
nest,” for a lookout aloft. And forward, just 
behind the wheelhouse, towered a second mast, 
also with a crow’s-nest, and with signal lamps on 
a cross-arm. Immediately Henry caught sight 


THE SEARCH FOR THE DERELICT 49 

of the wireless antennee stretched between these 
two masts, and his practiced eye noted every de¬ 
tail of the wiring, and traced the lead-in wire 
downward to a room beneath the wheelhouse. 
Amidships, along either rail, hung three or four 
lifeboats, swung outboard over the side of the 
ship, and lashed fast to big horizontal spars or 
strongbacks with stout rope shackles called 
gripes, so that they were held immovable, as in a 
vice. And here and there along the rails circular 
life buoys were fastened or “ stopped ” with short 
pieces of rope. 

But before Henry could take in any more de¬ 
tails, his companion had mounted a ladder that 
led directly to the bridge, where the captain had 
already taken his station. 

The bridge was a steel structure, reaching from 
side to side of the ship, and raised high above 
the deck, so that an unobstructed view could be 
had of everything. It was railed in with strong, 
iron rails, reaching breast-high. Stout canvas 
covers were fastened all around it, extending 
from the floor almost to the level of the eyes, ex¬ 
cepting immediately in front of the wheelhouse, 
where they were fastened lower. This was the 
weather cloth, to shut off the wind; and, as 
Henry was to learn, it was a welcome aid to the 
navigator. Compasses were balanced on strong 
pedestals at either side of the bridge, and there 


50 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


were various levers, to use in blowing the ship’s 
siren, and for other purposes as well, though, of 
course, Henry did not yet know what they were 
for, any more than he understood that the 
Franklin metal life-belts, or buoys, that hung at 
either end of the bridge could be dropped over¬ 
board by a single motion of the hand, and that 
when they struck the water the queer-looking 
tubes projecting from them would shoot out 
lights that would burn for a long period, show¬ 
ing persons struggling in the sea which way to 
swim for safety. 

At present Henry was wholly engrossed in 
the action that was taking place before him. 
The ship was moving gently through the water. 
The anchor had been partly heaved up by the 
little hoisting engine on the forward deck, but in 
heaving it, the chain had become twisted around 
one of the movable flukes, so that the stem of the 
anchor could not be properly heaved in through 
the hawse hole. A warrant officer in uniform, and 
a small group of sailors, leaned over the bow rail, 
trying to release the fouled anchor. A slender 
rope ladder had been lowered over the side, and 
on this a sailor was creeping down to the anchor 
that hung partly in the water, with a small rope 
in his hand. The rope he cautiously slipped 
around a fluke, so that the anchor could be tilted 
up. 


THE SEARCH FOR THE DERELICT 51 


“ That’s the boatswain, Mr. Johnson,” said 
the ensign, indicating the warrant officer in 
charge of the sailors. 

Presently the anchor was freed. The boat¬ 
swain signaled to the man at the hoisting engine, 
and slowly the huge anchor-chain was heaved 
taut, with the flukes of the anchor drawn up tight 
against the hawse hole. The moment the 
anchor was lifted free of the water, the boatswain 
notified the captain, who immediately signaled 
the engineer to crowd on steam. At once the 
vibration of the ship became more noticeable. 
Faster and faster she began to surge through the 
water, and presently she was steaming at top 
speed toward the open sea. 

On some other occasion, perhaps, Henry 
would have centred his attention on the views 
without, but now he was wholly occupied with 
the mysteries of this wonderful ship, so he paid 
slight heed to the wonderful sights in the Nar¬ 
rows, and gladly followed the ensign when the 
latter suggested that they step inside. 

They entered the wheelhouse, a tiny room just 
behind the bridge, where a sailor stood at the 
wheel, steering the ship in accordance with the 
captain’s low-spoken orders. Immediately they 
passed through a door into the chart room. This 
was somewhat larger than the wheelhouse, 
though tiny at best. On a large shelf or table 


52 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


lay a number of charts, some dividers, pencils, 
erasers, sliding rules, and some binoculars. In 
a rack on the wall were various code-books and 
books of instructions to navigators. Lieutenant 
Hill was erasing some lines from a chart. A 
moment later the captain stepped in. The two 
consulted the chart, and made some measure¬ 
ments with the sliding rule. 

“ Our course is east, three-quarters south,” said 
the lieutenant. 

“ Very good,” replied the captain. “ Mark it 
on the chart.” 

The lieutenant laid his rule along the course 
indicated, and drew a line on the chart, while the 
captain stepped into the wheel room. 

“ Keep her east, three-quarters south,” he said 
to the man at the wheel. 

“ Aye, aye, sir. East, three-quarters south,” 
answered the helmsman. 

“ We’re laying a course direct for Ambrose 
Lightship,” said the lieutenant to Henry. “After 
we reach that we will head directly for the loca¬ 
tion of the derelict.” 

Presently, as he heard a thin, shrill whistle 
piping on deck, Henry turned to the ensign. 
“ What was that? ” he inquired. 

“ That’s the boatswain’s mate piping mess 
gear.” 

“ That’s all Greek to me,” laughed Henry, 


THE SEARCH FOR THE DERELICT 53 


“Well, that’s the nautical term for the call 
to table. The whistle blows ten minutes before 
meal time, and the men, except those who must 
remain on duty, must wash for supper. See 
them scurrying to get ready? Meals are served 
at seven-twenty, noon, and five at night. So it’s 
ten minutes of five now.” 

Henry was watching the sailors hurrying be¬ 
low, when a hand was laid on his shoulder. 
“ Well, youngster,” said the captain’s kindly 
voice, “ it’s time that you and I got washed up, 
too, or Rollin will be in our wool.” 

Thanking the ensign for his kindness, Henry 
followed the commander to the deck and then 
down the companionway to the cabin. What he 
saw made Henry open his eyes wide. A snowy 
table-cloth had replaced the green felt table- 
cover, and the square little table was beautifully 
set for two. 

“ You’ll find towels in your bathroom,” said 
the captain. “ And if anything is missing, just 
ring for Rollin and he will bring it to you. 

In a few moments the captain and Henry sat 
face to face at the small table, and Henry was 
enjoying one of the pleasantest meals he had 
ever had. 

Night was approaching when the meal was 
ended. “ I must be getting my message off to 
my mother,” said Henry. 


54 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


“Surely/’ assented the commander. “We 
mustn’t forget that. Come with me and we’ll go 
get acquainted with Sparks.” 

“ Sparks? ” queried Henry. 

“ Oh! That’s our pet name for Harry Sharp, 
the chief electrician. He has charge of all the 
electrical apparatus as well as the wireless it¬ 
self.” 

They found the chief electrician in the wire¬ 
less house, for it was his trick at the key. “ Mr. 
Sharp,” smiled the captain, “ this is Henry 
Harper. He’s taking a little trip with us, and 
maybe he’ll be a Coast Guard man himself some 
day. Just now he wants to send a message to 
his friends at home, so that his mother won’t be 
alarmed about him. Will you help him out? ” 

Henry’s eyes shone bright as he looked about 
the small wireless room. There was a broad, 
desk-like shelf that stretched from side to side of 
the little room, and on this, and on the walls 
about him, were fastened a dazzling array of 
wireless instruments. 

“Gee!” exclaimed Henry. “What a peach 
of an outfit! ” 

“ It ought to be,” said the chief electrician with 
a smile. “ It’s right up-to-date, and it cost 
Uncle Sam ten thousand dollars. Know any¬ 
thing about wireless? ” 

“ A little,” said Henry. “ I served as a sub- 


THE SEARCH FOR THE DERELICT 55 


stitute operator at the government station at 
Frankfort for a time.” 

“ Would you like to send your own message? ” 

“Would I? Gee! I should say so.” 

“ All right. Sit down here and let’s see what 
you ean do. Call up your station.” 

“ Thank you,” said Henry. “ Will you set 
her for two hundred and fifty meters, please? ” 

The electrieian twirled his thumbscrews. 
Henry tested the key for a moment, then threw 
over the switch and sent his call speeding through 
the night: “ CBWC—CBWC—CBWC—de— 
CBE.” 

“ You send well,” said the chief electrician. 

For a few moments the two operators sat, their 
phones clamped to their ears, listening intently. 
There was no response. 

“ CBWC — CBWC — CBWC — de — CBE,” 
once more rapped out Henry. 

This time there came a faint answer: “ CBE— 
CBE—CBE—de—CBWK- K.” 

“ You’ve got ’em,” commented the electrician. 
“ Go ahead.” 

“ Reached New York all right,” wired Henry. 
“ Both Willie and Roy out of town. Made the 
acquaintance of Captain Hardwick, of the Coast 
Guard cutter Iroquois . Am going to sea for a 
short trip as his guest. We are now in Lower 
New York Bay, heading for Ambrose Lightship. 


56 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

We are to find a derelict and destroy it. Please 
tell mother to write me in care of Captain Hard¬ 
wick. Will send her a letter as soon as we get 
back.” 

There was a long pause. Then the receivers 
began to buzz again. “ Your mother is here/' 
came the message. “ Wants to know more about 
your trip.” 

Henry turned to his companion. “ They are 
talking from the workshop in our back yard,” he 
explained. “ It’s headquarters for our wireless 
club. We call it The Camp Brady Wireless 
Patrol. They’ve called mother out to the shop.” 

Then he pressed the key again. “ Tell her 
I’ll write,” he flashed back, and turning again to 
the chief electrician, he said with a grin: “ Gee! 
I’d never dare tell her that I fell overboard. 
She’d have a fit and order me right home.” 

“ Where can we get you? ” came another 
query. 

“ Call the Iroquois ” Once more Henry faced 
his companion. “ What is our call signal? ” he 
asked. 

“ NTE,” was the reply. 

And Henry hastily added to his message: 
“ Our call is NTE. Can send no more. Good¬ 
bye.” 

“ Gee! ” he exclaimed, as he laid down the re¬ 
ceivers. “ Won’t my chums be an astonished 


THE SEARCH FOR THE DERELICT 57 


bunch! It was almost worth falling overboard 
to give ’em such a surprise! And won’t they 
envy me! I’m going to have the time of my 
life.” 


CHAPTER IV 

THE WATCH IN THE DARK 


v I ^HE chief electrician was on watch for four 
A hours, and Henry sat with him in the wire¬ 
less shack, as the radio room on the Iroquois was 
called, until his watch was ended. Together 
they caught the nightly news-letters sent out by 
the various press associations. They heard myr¬ 
iads of commercial messages flashing through 
the air. At times the operator switched on the 
radio, and then, through the loud speaker, they 
heard some of the broadcasting programmes. 
Henry had told the truth when he said he was 
having the time of his life. Never had he seen 
such a wonderful wireless outfit as this one, for 
the Frankfort station equipment, which he had 
operated many months before, was naturally far 
from being the equal of these brand-new instru¬ 
ments. 

Shortly before the chief electrician’s watch 
ended, the door of the wireless shack opened, and 
a sailor stepped within. At least, the lad was 
dressed like a sailor, though when Henry saw the 
red electric sparks embroidered on the young 
58 


THE WATCH IN THE DARK 59 

man’s blue sleeve, he judged that this must be 
the wireless relief. And so it proved, for the 
chief electrician at once said, “ Mr. Harper, this 
is one of my assistants, Mr. Black.” 

Henry thought the newcomer was well named. 
The fellow had a surly look, and his eyes were 
shifty. He was one of those individuals that 
never looks another squarely in the eye. But 
Henry jumped to his feet, thrust out his arm, 
and took the other’s limp hand in greeting. 

“ I am very glad to know you, Mr. Black,” he 
said. “We fellows back in the country have 
played at being wireless men, and it’s a great 
pleasure to meet real wireless operators.” 

A sudden roll of the ship sent Henry reeling 
back against the wall of the wireless shack, and 
he realized what he had not noticed while he was 
still seated and engrossed in the wireless, namely, 
that the sea was evidently becoming rough. 
Henry would have been glad to stay on watch 
with this new operator, but the latter drew a 
soiled dime novel from his blouse and tilted back 
in his chair to read, utterly regardless of the fact 
that a visitor was present. The chief electrician 
frowned but said nothing. And Henry, seeing 
his presence was not desirable, turned to the 
chief operator. 

“ Would there be any objection to my looking 
about the deck? ” he asked. “ I’ve never been on 


60 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


a ship at sea before, and I’d like to know what it 
is like at night on deck.” 

“ Just come up on the bridge,” said the wire¬ 
less man. “ There’s nobody on deck, probably, 
but the man on watch in the bow. You’ll find 
Mr. Hill and the quartermaster on watch on the 
bridge. Maybe you’d like to stand watch your¬ 
self a while. Would you? ” 

“ I’d be tickled to death,” exclaimed Henry. 

“ Then come to our quarters and I’ll fit you 
out. You’ll find it pretty chilly up on the 
bridge.” 

Henry turned to say good-night to the assist¬ 
ant operator. The latter already had his nose 
buried in his novel. Henry could not help but 
notice how the fellow’s fingers were stained with 
tobacco, and what an evil look seemed to lurk on 
his countenance. He did not disturb him, but 
quietly followed Mr. Sharp out of the wireless 
shack. “ I’d hate to trust the safety of the ship 
to a man like that,” he thought, but said nothing. 

The instant the door was opened, his attention 
was drawn to other things. Across the deck an 
icy blast of wind was sweeping that made Henry 
shiver. From above came an eerie, humming, 
vibrating noise, as the rigging quivered in the 
breeze. Only soft lights were visible—such in¬ 
direct illumination as shone through ports or win¬ 
dows or the deck lights,—discs of heavy glass set 


THE WATCH IN THE DARK 


61 


flush in the planking underfoot to let the sunlight 
into the interior of the ship. Aloft twinkled the 
ship’s sailing lights. Beyond the rails all was 
inky darkness, and it was a darkness that seemed 
almost to be alive. Out of it came sounds such 
as Henry had never heard before—the swish and 
sweep of swaying waters, the crashing of crested 
waves, the interminable roar of endless leagues 
of rolling billows. 

Henry was amazed to find how the ship was 
moving up and down. He tried to imitate the 
wireless men, who skipped quickly around the 
after end of the wireless shack, but a lurch of the 
ship sent him flying across the deck. He brought 
up with a jolt at the leeward rail. With a 
chuckle he turned about and made for the door 
of the operator’s stateroom which the electrician 
was now holding open for him. A broad band 
of light illumined his way. 

As Henry stepped through the doorway, he 
could see quite well what a snug little place this 
stateroom was. Three bunks, one above the 
other, occupied most of one side of the compart¬ 
ment. There were also a tall wardrobe, a wash¬ 
bowl with mirror above it, and a table with sev¬ 
eral chairs. On this table were a number of books 
and magazines. A young man sat at the table, 
his elbows on the edge of it, his chin propped on 
his hands, so deeply engrossed in a book he was 


62 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


reading that he was unconscious of the entrance 
of Henry and Mr. Sharp. By the device on the 
young man’s sleeve Henry saw that he, too, was 
an assistant wireless man. 

“ Jim,” said the chief electrician. 

The reader looked up, startled. Then he laid 
down his book and arose. 

“ This is Mr. Harper,” said the electrician. 
“ Mr. Harper, this is my other assistant, Jim 
Belford.” 

Henry was sure he would like this young man. 
The lad had a fine face, and intelligence showed 
in his every feature. His smile was frank and 
winning. The two shook hands cordially. 

“ So you’re going to sea with us,” said the lad. 
“ Are you a good sailor? It looks as though 
we’d have some rough water by morning.” 

“ I don’t know,” replied Henry. “ I’ve never 
been to sea before. I suppose I shall know be¬ 
fore long.” Then, his eye falling upon the book 
the young operator had laid down, Henry said, 
“ Don’t let me keep you from your reading. 
You appeared to have something interesting.” 

The lad passed the book to Henry. “ It is 
very interesting,” he said. And when Henry ex¬ 
amined the volume in his hand, he found that it 
was a treatise on electricity. He couldn’t help 
thinking of the contrast in the reading matter 
chosen by the two young operators. 


THE WATCH IN THE DARK 


63 


“You must have lots of time for reading,” 
commented Henry, “ and this is an excellent way 
to use it.” He handed back the book. 

“We are on watch four hours and off duty for 
eight, so we have oceans of time, and I’m glad of 
it. I wasn’t able to finish my high-school course, 
and I’m trying to go on with my education. 
There’s a good chance to work up in this service 
if a fellow will only take it.” 

“ How do you get a job in the Coast Guard 
anyway? ” asked Henry. 

“ The officers, of course, attend the Coast 
Guard Academy at Fort Trumbull, up in Con¬ 
necticut. It’s just like West Point or Annap¬ 
olis. It trains the officers for the Coast Guard 
ships. Everybody else gets his job by enlist¬ 
ment.” 

“ Are there good openings? Could I, for in¬ 
stance, get a position? ” 

“ You could enlist as a seaman, or you could 
enlist for wireless duty if you know anything 
about wireless.” 

“ He does,” smiled the chief electrician. 

“ The Chief, here, would examine you. If he 
passed you, you’d become an assistant wireless 
man and rank as a third-class petty officer. This 
first examination is quite simple. You must be 
able to send and receive adequately and know 
how to handle your instruments, and that is about 


64 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


all you need to know to pass it. Three months 
after you become a third-class man, you could 
take another examination, and if you passed that, 
you’d become a second-class petty officer. This 
second examination would deal with wireless 
theory and codes and the semaphore and blink¬ 
ers.” And noting Henry’s blank expression, the 
young wireless man continued, “ You noticed the 
semaphores on the yardarm on the forward mast, 
didn’t you? And the lights there? ” 

“ Sure,” said Henry. 

“ Well, we no longer use flags when we sema¬ 
phore. We use the semaphores up on the yard¬ 
arms. At night we use those lights or blinkers 
and make ’em wink by electricity. It’s really 
sending wireless messages with lights instead of 
sound waves.” 

“ And how does a fellow become a first-class 
radio man? ” 

“To become a first-class man, you’d have to 
have a good knowledge of all parts of the ship, 
and all radio laws and regulations and general 
radio procedure. You could take your examina¬ 
tion nine months after you entered the service, 
but there are mighty few radio men who are 
ready to take it so soon.” 

“ What about Mr. Sharp here? He is chief 
electrician. How long does it take to become a 
chief electrician? ” 


THE WATCH IN THE DARK 


65 


“ It would take at least three years to make 
that. You have to know an awful lot to become 
a chief electrician. ,, The lad paused, then added 
simply: “ That’s what I am working for. Most 
fellows that qualify as wireless men have a high- 
school education. You see, I couldn’t finish 
my course. It’s an awful handicap to me 
now.” 

“ I’ve been through high school,” said Henry, 
and to himself he thought: “ I’m certainly glad 
mother held me to it. I can see already what a 
difference it may make to me.” A moment later 
he said to the chief electrician: “ I hadn’t any 
idea of ever belonging to the Coast Guard, but 
for a long time I have wanted to be a wireless 
man. Do you suppose there would be any 
chance for me on the Iroquois? ” 

“We have our full complement now,” said Mr. 
Sharp. “ There wouldn’t be any opening on 
this boat unless we could get rid of—unless 
one of my assistants should leave.” 

Henry looked sharply at the chief electrician. 
He believed he knew exactly what the wireless 
chief had started to say, and he believed it had 
to do with the man now on watch in the wireless 
shack. But of course Henry made no comment. 
“I’d like mighty well to be a Coast Guard radio 
man,” he said. After a moment’s pause he went 
on: “ Won’t you please explain to me again about 


66 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


the officers? You said they were trained at the 
Coast Guard Academy. And you also said a 
fellow could enlist as a wireless man and yet rank 
as an officer. I don’t exactly understand.” 

“ I don’t wonder,” laughed the young wireless 
man. “ You see there are three sorts of officers 
—petty officers, warrant officers, and commis¬ 
sioned officers. The captain of a ship appoints 
the petty officers from the enlisted crew. Petty 
officers are men like the boatswain’s mate, the 
chief yeoman, the gunner’s mate, and the like. 
From among these the captain chooses men he 
will recommend for appointment as warrant 
officers. They get their appointments from 
Washington. The boatswain, the gunner, the 
carpenter, and others are warrant officers. The 
commissioned officers are the trained navigators 
from the Coast Guard Academy, and bear the 
nation’s own commission as officers.” 

“ Thank you,” said Henry. “ It’s very plain 
now.” 

Meantime Mr. Sharp had been searching in 
the wardrobe. He now handed a thick sweater 
to Henry, and when the lad had pulled it on and 
buttoned his coat over it, the chief electrician 
produced a long, warm overcoat, which he made 
his visitor put on. Then, pulling on a long rain¬ 
proof overcoat himself, he led the way out of the 
cabin. Henry said good-bye to the young radio 


THE WATCH IN THE DARK 


67 


man, to whom he had taken a great liking, and 
followed the Chief. 

Up to the bridge they mounted, and Henry 
was glad, indeed, that he was so warmly clothed. 
The wind swept past so fiercely that he could 
hardly get his breath when he faced it. A light 
was burning in the chart house. In the glass- 
fronted wheel-house the compass was dimly 
illuminated. Otherwise it was dark. A figure 
stood within, silent, almost immovable, his arms 
grasping the handles of the steering wheel. As 
Henry peered into the wheel-house, he saw that 
the steersman’s eye was on the compass. He 
was holding the ship true to her course—east 
three-quarters south. 

On the bridge itself two human forms loomed 
in the darkness. Lieutenant Hill was standing 
on the port side. He said, “ Good-evening,” as 
Henry stepped alongside him, then continued his 
vigil, looking steadily into the blackness of the 
night. When Henry crossed to the starboard 
side of the boat, he found Quartermaster An¬ 
drews also peering intently out over the weather- 
cloth. The chief electrician made them ac¬ 
quainted. Henry came up close to the rail and 
thrust his face out over the weather-cloth, but 
he drew it back in a hurry. The stinging blast 
struck him with sudden fury. He winked as 
though something tangible had hit him, Then, 


68 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


he made a wild and fruitless grab at his hat, 
which the wind had torn from his head. The hat 
lodged against the wheel-house and he rescued 
it. 

“ I had no idea it was blowing so hard,” he 
said to the quartermaster, “ and I wouldn’t have 
believed that weather-cloth would be such a pro¬ 
tection. Why, six inches behind it you can 
hardly feel any wind at all. It seems to shoot 
the breeze straight upward.” 

The quartermaster smiled. “ You’re right 
about the weather-cloth,” he said, “ but this isn’t 
much of a wind yet. It looks as though we 
might have a gale before morning, though, and 
if we do you’ll have a good chance to see how the 
Iroquois behaves in a rough sea. We’ll be in 
shallow water for some hours yet, and it always 
gets rough out here when there is any wind.” 

“ I should think a fellow would freeze up here 
in real cold weather when it blows hard. It’s 
cold enough now. How do you ever stand 
it?” 

“ I’ve got on one of those wind-proof suits,” 
said the quartermaster. “ It takes a pretty stiff 
gale to go through that.” And Henry, looking 
close, saw that his companion was dressed in a 
hooded blouse that had to be pulled on over the 
head, and that could be fastened tight about his 
head, so that only the face was exposed. The 


THE WATCH IN THE DARK 


69 


quartermaster also wore a knitted, blue watch- 
cap that he could pull down over his ears. 

When Henry stared into the dark void ahead 
of and around them he could at first see nothing. 
The sky was like a dome of black. No star, no 
feeblest ray of light of any sort, came from it. 
And the water beneath was its twin for darkness. 
Overhead the rigging sang ever more eerily, and, 
when the wind rose in sharp crescendo, the cord¬ 
age fairly shrieked. The woodwork creaked and 
groaned. From every side came the tumultuous 
roar of the waves, a sound so overpowering, so 
insistent, so awesome, that Henry shuddered 
when he listened to it. A feeling almost of fear 
came to him. He could not help thinking how 
awful it would be if the ship should sink in such 
a wild waste of water. But when he glanced at 
the motionless figure in the wheel-house, and 
when he thought of the radio, he was reassured. 
But he would have felt safer, he thought to him¬ 
self, if young Belford or the chief electrician had 
been on watch in the wireless shack. 

Already the latter had left the bridge and re¬ 
turned to his cabin. But Henry stayed on the 
bridge a long time. Occasionally he spoke 
briefly to the officers on watch, but mostly he 
watched in silence, peering into the darkness, 
drinking in the sounds of the night, filling him¬ 
self with new sensations, not all of which were 


70 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


pleasant, for as the wind came ever stronger, and 
the ship rose and fell more noticeably, a strange 
feeling crept over Henry. He began to feel 
queer about his stomach. 

“ I must have indigestion,” he muttered to 
himself. “ Maybe I ate something that didn’t 
agree with me.” 

He kept getting sicker and sicker. Soon he 
suspected that he was seasick. Finally he could 
stand it on the bridge no longer. Trying hard 
to control himself, he said good-night to Lieu¬ 
tenant Hill, and made his way with trembling 
limbs down the ladder to the deck. Like a 
drunken man he went reeling aft, for the ship was 
beginning to roll. When he reached the after 
companionway, he felt worse than ever, for the 
motion was much more noticeable than it had 
been forward or amidship. He could stand it 
no longer. Making his way unsteadily to the 
leeward rail, he leaned over it and vomited. He 
had never felt so sick in his life. Every minute 
he seemed to feel worse. He was so weak he was 
afraid he would fall over the rail. He decided 
that he would try to get to his bunk. 

He turned and started toward the companion- 
way, when the ship rolled far over on her side. 
As though he were shot out of a cannon Henry 
went plunging across the deck. There was noth¬ 
ing he could grasp to stop himself. With 


THE WATCH IN THE DARK 


71 


terrific force he went crashing into the windward 
rail and was flung partly over it. With all the 
power at his command he clung to the rail as he 
balanced on top of it. For a moment his heart 
almost ceased to beat. He was afraid he was 
going overboard. His feet were clear of the 
deck. His body was half over the rail. All he 
could do was to cling fast, in the hope that he 
wouldn’t slide any further. But his position was 
so awkward he was fearful he could not keep 
himself from plunging on over into the sea. 
Suddenly the ship heeled in the other direction. 
Henry was flung back from the rail as violently 
as he had just shot into it. This time he struck 
the companionway. He grasped the door, 
opened it, took a grip on the handrail, and tot¬ 
tered down the steps. He found the captain’s 
cabin deserted. The commander had to go on 
watch later in the night, and was sleeping in 
preparation for it. Henry got to his stateroom, 
undressed, pulled on his nightclothes, and with a 
feeling of relief slid into his bunk. He had lost 
all interest in the sea and wireless and derelicts. 
His one hope now was that he would live until the 
Iroquois got back to port and he could get 
ashore. 


CHAPTER V 


THE DESTRUCTION OF THE DERELICT 

T T ENRY awoke early next morning. At first 
he did not know where he was. Then he 
remembered all. But life no longer looked sable. 
Indeed, there was a rosy tinge to it, just as there 
was about the eastern sky. The feeling of nau¬ 
sea had entirely left him. Gone were the terrible 
headache and the feeling of sickness that had 
affected his entire body. Though the ship was 
now rolling far more than it had rolled the pre¬ 
ceding night, the motion no longer distressed 
him. He rose and dressed quickly. 

Early as Henry was, the captain was up before 
him. The captain had taken his turn on the 
bridge, then snatched a little more sleep, and was 
now busy at some clerical work at his desk. He 
looked up as Henry stepped into the cabin. 

“ Good-morning, youngster,” he said. “ How 
are you feeling? Didn’t make you sick, did it? 
There’s a pretty good sea going.” 

“ It made me sick as a dog,” admitted Henry, 
“ but I’m fit as a fiddle now. A good sleep fixed 
me up.” 


72 


DESTRUCTION OF THE DERELICT 73 


They ate breakfast and went to the chart-room. 
Though the ship was far out in the ocean, it was 
still many hours’ sail from the location given for 
the derelict. The captain began to study the 
ship’s logbook, as the sailing record is called. 

“ See here, Henry,” he remarked after a 
moment. “ This logbook might interest you.” 

Henry looked at the book, and saw entered 
there a detailed record of what was done on ship¬ 
board, not only from hour to hour but even every 
few minutes. Glancing back, he saw that his 
own rescue was noted down, and the recovery of 
his suit-case, and the exact time the executive 
officer came aboard, as well as the time when the 
Iroquois got under way. 

“ Captain Hardwick,” he said presently, 
“ what does this entry about the log mean? I 
see it is written down every hour.” 

“ That’s the way we keep our dead reckon¬ 
ing,” said the captain. “ When we can see sun 
or stars, we know exactly where we are. But 
when it’s cloudy we have to figure our position 
by dead reckoning. We know by our compass 
which way we are heading. We can tell by the 
number of revolutions of our propeller how fast 
we ought to be moving. We have an apparatus 
fastened to the taffrail that drags in the sea a 
good many fathoms behind us, and that turns 
like a propeller. It turns the line with it. The 


74 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


line is on a swivel, and every revolution is re¬ 
corded on an instrument like a speedometer. 
When we look at that instrument we can tell how 
many miles we have made. The quartermaster 
reads the log every hour and records the reading 
in this book. So we can tell pretty exactly how 
many miles we have traveled. We also know in 
what direction we went. But we can’t always 
tell how far wind and current have put us out of 
our true course. We make allowance for them 
when we figure our dead reckoning. Usually 
we hit it pretty closely. But if there comes a 
period when sun and stars are hidden for two or 
three weeks, as sometimes happens, a ship’s cap¬ 
tain may be miles from where he thinks he is. 
Why, once we went after a steamer that sent an 
SOS for help, and we had a terrible time to find 
her because she was seventy miles from where 
she thought she was, and where we went to get 
her.” 

“Gee whiz!” said Henry. “How did you 
ever find her? ” 

“ I’ll have to tell you that some other time, 
Henry. I’m too busy just now.” 

Henry went out on the bridge, so as to leave 
the captain undisturbed. It was still windy and 
cold, but the day fairly sparkled. The sun shone 
through a cloudless sky. The waves gleamed 
and flashed in its brilliant beams. As one spell- 


DESTRUCTION OF THE DERELICT 75 


bound Henry gazed at the scene. Always he 
had tried to picture to himself what the ocean 
looked like. Now he knew that to picture the 
ocean mentally one must first actually see it. 
This great, boundless, inconceivable body of 
water was too vast for the imagination alone to 
picture. Turn in which direction he would, 
Henry could see nothing but water. And this 
water was rolling and tossing and surging and 
splashing and leaping in a manner past descrip¬ 
tion. Never before had Henry seen waves 
higher than those in the Hudson River and the 
New York Bay. He had read of the huge waves 
of the ocean, but what he now saw, though they 
were far from being of the largest size, awed and 
impressed him. He felt sure some of them must 
be ten feet high. The ensign, who had now come 
on watch, assured him that they were all of that. 

No matter where he looked, Henry saw noth¬ 
ing but water, leagues and leagues of tossing 
billows, the bluish-green depths spotted every¬ 
where with the yeasty white of foaming wave- 
crests. No ship was in sight. Land was many 
miles behind them. Not even a bit of driftwood 
broke the vast expanse of the heaving ocean. 
The only object that rose above those miles and 
miles of furious billows was the Iroquois herself. 
How tiny, how puny, how insignificant, she 
seemed in that vast wilderness of water. For a 


76 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


moment a creepy feeling again stole over Henry. 
Suppose something should happen to the ship. 
Suppose she should sink. What chance would 
her crew, mere pigmies, have with these giant 
combers? But when Henry thought of the wire¬ 
less, a feeling of courage surged through his 
heart again, and he was thankful to the men who 
had labored to make the wireless possible, and 
thankful that he was a wireless man himself. 
What a wonderful thing it was, he thought, to 
be able to call help or to catch the cry of those 
who needed help. Assuredly, the wireless man 
carried the safety of untold lives in his hands, 
just as truly as the captain of the ship did. How 
proud an operator ought to be, and how faithful 
he ought to be to his trust. And again Henry 
frowned as he thought of the lad he had last seen 
on watch in the wireless shack. 

Long before the Iroquois reached the spot 
where the derelict had been seen, the captain had 
ordered a watch in the crow’s-nests; and for two 
hours at a time a man stood in each of these 
elevated lookouts, searching the seas for some 
trace of the lost vessel. But the spot where she 
had been seen was reached without the discovery 
of a single trace of her. 

The captain was not in the least disturbed. 
He had had no expectation of finding her so 
soon. Wind and wave would have carried the 


DESTRUCTION OF THE DERELICT 77 

hulk leagues to leeward of the spot. It was up 
to the captain to find her. When Henry stepped 
into the chart-room again, he found the captain 
plotting on his chart the course he intended to 
follow in his search for the derelict. 

When he noticed that Henry was watching 
him, the captain said: “ That’s what is called a 
grid. You see we start here, where the derelict 
was known to be some days ago, and we steer a 
course that will enable us to view the sea over a 
wide area. We try to follow the course we think 
the derelict has taken.” 

“ But how could you know which way a wreck 
would go? ” asked Henry. 

“ If the derelict stuck up above water much, 
it would go in the direction of the wind rather 
than the water,” said the captain. “ If it is 
mostly submerged, it would go in the direction 
the water was flowing. I’m going to assume 
that this derelict has been driven by the wind, for 
we’ve had this high southwest wind for nearly a 
week. So we’ll cover a broad belt of sea along 
her supposed course.” 

“ But how can you tell where that course is? 
I should think you’d get lost in this endless 
wilderness of water. There are no landmarks to 
help you know where you are.” 

“ You’re wrong, young man. There’s the 
greatest landmark in the world, right up there. 


78 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


Henry looked overhead. “ I see nothing but 
the sun,” he said. 

“ That’s all a navigator needs to see,” laughed 
the captain. “ It’s just as I told you. As long 
as he can see the sun, or the stars, you can’t lose 
him. When he looks at either through a sextant, 
he can tell exactly where he is.” 

“ I see,” said Henry. “ The sun tells you 
your latitude and longitude.” 

“ Correct. That dot on the chart,” and the 
captain pointed with his pencil, “ is the spot 
where this derelict was reported to be. Also it’s 
just where we are now. If I drew a mark from 
that dot along the direction in which the wind 
is blowing, which is from the southwest, that 
should be the course of the derelict. But the 
current may have carried it to right or left of 
that line. So we have to make a grid, in order 
that we may not pass the derelict in our search. 
We will sail a course that takes us first to right 
and then to left of this supposed course, in such 
a way that we can examine every foot of the sea 
over a wide area. Our present grid will be like 
this; ” and the captain drew on a piece of paper 
a diagram something like the following: 


DESTRUCTION OF THE DERELICT 79 



A—Where the Iroquois began her search. 

B—Where the first pine boards were found. 

C—Where the wreckage was found. 

D—Where the hulk was found. 

Dotted line A—D supposed course of derelict. 

“ We are now at A,” he said. “ We’ll run off 
to starboard a distance, then make a right-angled 
turn to port, and on around so as to make a series 
of long rectangles, as it were. The sides of these 
rectangles will be as far apart as twice the sup¬ 
posed limit of visibility. Thus we shall be able 
to see everything that floats within the limits of 
our course.” 

“ How far do you think you could see this 
derelict? ” said Henry. 

“ Not so very far. We are looking for an old, 
wooden schooner. Her masts are gone and her 
decks are awash. At least that is what she was 
like when sighted. She wouldn’t stick up above 
the water much, and this sea may have broken 
her in pieces. We might be able to see her five 
miles, so the sides of our rectangles couldn’t be 
much more than twice that distance apart. 

“ That’s a fine scheme,” agreed Henry, “ and 
I’ll bet you’ll find her.” 



80 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


Already the Iroquois had come about and was 
standing on the first leg of the grid. Hour after 
hour the cutter continued its search, covering leg 
after leg of the course. But neither the men on 
the bridge nor the lookouts in the crow’s-nests 
could detect any particle of wreckage. 

Meantime the chief electrician had been comb¬ 
ing the seas with his wireless, asking all vessels 
that had seen the derelict to give the Iroquois 
what information they had concerning it. 

Every three or four hours he kept broadcast¬ 
ing this message: “Iroquois searching for dere¬ 
lict schooner. Last reported September 25 in 
latitude thirty-nine, thirty; longitude sixty-six, 
twenty. Any vessel sighting derelict please 
notify Coast Guard cutter Iroquois . Call letters 
NTE” 

And Henry, listening in at times, caught sev¬ 
eral messages like this: “ NTE—NTE—NTE 
—de—KLF—Your QST acknowledged. Will 
keep sharp lookout. AR.” 

“ How wonderful wireless is,” thought Henry. 
“ By means of it we can enlist every pair of eyes 
on the near-by ocean.” 

But the search by wireless was quite as fruit¬ 
less as that by steam. No trace of the lost 
schooner could be found. All day the Iroquois 
steamed along, yet night found her unsuccessful. 
When dusk came, the lookouts were ordered from 


DESTRUCTION OF THE DERELICT 81 

the masts, the engines were stopped, and the 
Iroquois was allowed to drift before the wind, 
which had now considerably abated. The boat 
rolled and wallowed in the sea, but the waves 
were not now severe enough to be a menace. 

“ Do you think you’ll find her? ” asked Henry, 
while he and the captain were eating supper. 

“ If she’s afloat I think we’re quite likely to 
find her. She’ll drive straight before this wind. 
But it may take us three or four days yet.” 

“Three or four days!” cried Henry, in as¬ 
tonishment. “ Why, I had no idea a derelict 
could float so far or so fast.” 

“ You see we’re in the Gulf Stream, Henry,” 
said the captain, “ and both wind and tide will 
drive her. Why, the Iroquois once chased a 
derelict in the Gulf Stream that floated two hun¬ 
dred and eighty-five miles in four days. This 
one might go as far. And while we make a big 
total of miles, we don’t advance so very far in 
one day along the course of the derelict.” 

It looked as though the captain’s prediction 
of a long search was to be realized, for the second 
day’s run was as fruitless as the first had been. 
Once more the cutter drifted with the wind dur¬ 
ing the hours of darkness, yet all the time she was 
gaining on the derelict, for, standing high above 
the water, she would drift twice as fast as a low- 
lying hulk. 


82 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


At noon the next day the Iroquois had reached 
the point marked B on the diagram. Here the 
lookouts discovered three pine boards. They 
were floating almost exactly in the line the cap¬ 
tain had drawn as the probable course of the 
derelict. Instead of standing on this leg of his 
grid as usual, the captain ran on for only three 
or four miles further, and then came about to 
starboard. This tack brought him once more 
across the supposed line of the derelict’s path. 
Here some bits of wreckage were seen. It now 
seemed certain that the wreck had come along the 
line indicated in the captain’s diagram, and must, 
therefore, be straight to leeward. A few 
moments later the matter was definitely settled, 
when one of the lookouts spied a floating hulk 
exactly in the direction indicated. The cutter 
was brought about and headed straight for the 
derelict. In less than half an hour the Iroquois 
was rolling upon the waves, only a few hundred 
yards from the derelict. , 

But how different this was in appearance from 
the craft Henry had been expecting to see. He 
had looked for a boat with its masts snapped off, 
riding low in the water, with the waves washing 
over its deck. Instead of that there lay before 
them about half of the hulk of a boat, bottom up. 
Evidently the craft had been broken in half by 
the storm. The after part had no doubt sunk, but 


DESTRUCTION OF THE DERELICT 83 


the forward end continued to float, upheld by the 
air imprisoned within her. The broken midship 
section floated low under the waves, while the 
bow projected well above the water. Her 
bottom was dark and slimy, and Henry shud¬ 
dered as he looked at the monster, for monster she 
was, a floating monster, lying in wait for other 
creatures of her kind. And Henry thanked 
fortune that the Iroquois had not run upon this 
lurking death in the darkness of the night and 
torn herself apart, to drop to the floor of the 
ocean, even as half of this derelict had already 
done, and as the other half was so soon to do. 

For no sooner had the Iroquois lost headway 
than the gripes were unfastened on one of the 
small boats, the falls loosened, and the boat 
lowered level with the rail. Meantime, the neces¬ 
sary materials for destroying the derelict had 
been assembled. These were now lifted aboard 
the small boat and the crew leaped in after them. 
Then Lieutenant Hill, who was to command, 
took his place in the stern. Oars were gotten 
ready, and at a favorable opportunity the boat 
was dropped gently into the waves. In a 
moment she was riding safely at a little distance 
from the Iroquois, and her oarsmen were bending 
to their oars. 

How astonished Henry was as he watched the 
little boat fight its way over to the derelict. Now 


84 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


it went up, up, up, until it reached the very crest 
of a wave, then it dropped into the trough-like 
depression just ahead and was almost lost to 
sight, only to come shooting upward again on 
the next billow. So it made its way to the dere¬ 
lict. Meantime the entire crew of the Iroquois 
leaned over the rail, watching. 

To the astonishment of the onlookers, the small 
boat turned shortly after it reached the wreck 
and pulled straight back to the Iroquois without 
making any attempt to destroy it. The captain 
awaited the return of the boat by the leeward 
rail. 

“ What’s the difficulty, Mr. Hill?” he called, 
when the small boat came within speaking dis¬ 
tance. 

“We need some storm oil and a drip-bag,” 
shouted the lieutenant through cupped hands. 
“ It’s so rough that we can’t get close to her.” 

The desired materials were brought and the 
small boat returned toward the derelict. Mean¬ 
time, the oil had been poured from the can into 
the drip-bag, which was merely a conical bag of 
tightly-woven duck stuffed with oakum. When 
the boat had pulled some distance to windward 
of the hulk, a sailor jabbed several holes in the 
drip-bag with a knife-point, and the bag was 
hung out over the water on the end of an oar. 
But apparently the effect was not all Mr. Hill 


DESTRUCTION OF THE DERELICT 85 


hoped for, for presently the boat pulled around 
to leeward of the hulk and the dripping process 
was repeated. 

“ What are they doing? ” asked Henry. 

“ Oiling the water,” said the executive officer, 
who stood near him. “ That is to stop the waves 
from breaking.” 

Henry had heard that oil would still the 
troubled waves, but it hardly seemed credible that 
little drops of oil could produce the effect he now 
witnessed, for slowly but surely the sea about the 
derelict grew calmer. To be sure, the water still 
rose and fell, but no longer did the wave crests 
break. Like a billowing sea of glass was the 
ocean, rather than a storm-torn sheet of water. 

Now the small boat came close to the old hulk. 
A length of strong wire, with a mine attached, 
was fastened to the hulk, and the mine lowered 
so that it hung just below the bottom of it. Then 
the small boat rowed off to ‘windward, paying 
out as it went the detonating wires attached to 
the mine. Three hundred yards away the boat 
was stopped. The lieutenant touched off his 
electric battery. There was a tremendous ex¬ 
plosion. The sea heaved upward like a water¬ 
spout, and great pieces of the shattered bottom 
of the derelict were blown aloft, shooting up and 
up and up until they were a thousand feet in air. 
Presently they came raining down again, some 


86 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

of them dangerously close to the Iroquois' small 
boat. 

When Henry looked at the sea again, the 
derelict had disappeared. But several danger¬ 
ously large pieces of the hulk still floated. Im¬ 
mediately Lieutenant Hill began to herd these 
together. When they were all collected, the 
sailors lashed them together, a second mine was 
secured beneath them, and once more the small 
boat pulled away to the length of the detonating 
wires. Again there was a terrific explosion, and 
this time the shattered bits of wreckage shot even 
higher into the air than they had gone before. 
When they had all dropped back into the sea 
again, the small boat rowed back to where the 
derelict had been, but nothing big enough to 
menace navigation now floated above the waves. 

Lieutenant Hill turned his boat toward the 
Iroquois . A few minutes later the dripping 
craft once more hung on its davits, securely 
lashed to its strongback. The men had returned 
to their stations, the propeller was churning the 
salty sea, and the Iroquois was speeding back to 
her anchorage off Staten Island, with her task 
accomplished, and the pathway of the ocean freed 
of one more menace. 

Truly, Henry thought, it was a great thing to 
belong to the Coast Guard. If there was any 
way by which he could accomplish it, he meant 


DESTRUCTION OF THE DERELICT 87 


to become a wireless man on a Coast Guard 
cutter. His decision had been made. He knew 
he would never be satisfied until he, too, wore a 
blue uniform with red electric flashes and some 
red bars on his blue sleeve. But how he was to 
accomplish his end was quite another matter. 
There was evidently no place for him on the 
Iroquois , and probably every other cutter in the 
service had likewise its full complement of wire¬ 
less men. 


CHAPTER VI 


A CALL FOR HELP 


ET Henry, having come to a decision, pro- 



A ceeded with characteristic directness to try 
to accomplish his purpose. The minute he had 
an opportunity to speak to the commander alone, 
Henry said to him, “ Captain Hardwick, I’ve 
decided that I should like to become a Coast 
Guard wireless man. Ever since my old chum, 
Roy Mercer, became wireless man on the 
Lycoming, I’ve thought that I should like to have 
a similar job. Yet I wasn’t quite sure that I 
should like the sea. Now that I’ve seen the 
ocean, I have come to a decision. Is there any 
way I can get a job in the Coast Guard as a wire¬ 
less man? ” 

“ Just at present we have our full complement 
of wireless men aboard the Iroquois ” replied 
Captain Hardwick, “ so there is no opening on 
this vessel. There might be on some other ship. 
But in any case, you would have to take an 
initial examination at the hands of a ship’s chief 
radio man. You might as well take an examina¬ 
tion here and now. Mr. Sharp will put you 


88 


A CALL FOR HELP 


89 


through your paces, if you like, and you will 
know whether you are competent to fill the place 
you want. If you are not, Mr. Sharp would be 
glad to coach you, so that you could become com¬ 
petent. So, whether there is an immediate open¬ 
ing or not, this really looks like an opportunity 
for you, doesn’t it? And if you prove to be 
competent, I can recommend you to another 
commander.” 

“ You are very kind, Captain Hardwick. I 
see that it is a real opportunity. And if Mr. 
Sharp is willing to examine me, I’ll be only too 
thankful to him and to you.” 

The captain rose and rang his call-bell. 
“ Rollin,” he said, when his attendant appeared, 
“ tell Mr. Sharp that I would like to speak to 
him.” 

In a few moments the chief electrician knocked 
and entered the cabin. The commander said to 
him, “ Our young friend here,” indicating 
Henry, “ has decided that he wants to become a 
Coast Guard radio man. I told him we had no 
opening for him on the Iroquois, but that we 
would examine him anyway and see whether he 
is qualified. I wish you would see what he can 
do, Mr. Sharp. Test him out thoroughly, and 
if he is a little weak, I would like it if you would 
coach him a bit. When will it be convenient for 
you? ” 


90 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


“ I go on my regular watch in half an hour, 
Captain, and we would then be uninterrupted. 
I could give him a thorough examination.” 

“ Very good. That is the arrangement, then.” 

Half an hour later Henry joined the chief 
electrician in the wireless shack. The latter first 
questioned Henry concerning the equipment and 
the theory of wireless. He found that Henry 
had a good basic understanding of these matters. 
The brand-new instruments that Henry had not 
hitherto been acquainted with, he understood at 
once when their operation was explained to him. 
In general knowledge and understanding Henry 
was, the examiner found, fully the equal of even 
a first-class radio man. When it came to operat¬ 
ing the key, Henry showed that he was very 
proficient. That the chief electrician already 
knew. Nevertheless he examined Henry thor¬ 
oughly. He made him flash out all the letters of 
the alphabet. Then he gave him a message to 
send, and told Henry to get it off at his best 
speed. Henry called the imaginary party to 
whom he was signaling and then dashed off the 
message almost as fast as the chief electrician 
could have done it himself. His sending was 
flawless. 

“ Now let me see how you receive,” ordered the 
chief operator. 

Both men sat with phones strapped to their 


A CALL FOR HELP 


91 


heads. Henry began to search the air for mes¬ 
sages, shifting from the very short wave-length 
at which he was operating up through the longer 
wave-lengths. Suddenly he ceased his shifting, 
and, seizing a pencil, wrote down this despatch: 
“ Hurricane warning displayed 10 p. m. in 
Louisiana, Alabama, extreme northwest Florida 
coast. Storm now central about latitude twenty- 
seven north, longitude ninety-two west. It has 
reached hurricane intensity and is apparently 
moving northeastward toward the Louisiana 
coast which it will reach late to-night or to¬ 
morrow morning. Dangerously shifting gales 
indicated.” 

When Henry had finished taking the message, 
he tore from the pad the sheet on which he had 
written and passed it to his companion. The 
latter also had been copying the message. 
“ Absolutely correct,” he said. “ I’ll give you 
one hundred on that.” 

“ And what will you give me on my entire ex¬ 
amination, providing, of course, that the ex¬ 
amination is ended? ” 

“ It is. I can’t see that you lack anything as 
an operator. I’ll have to take off at least one 
point for your unfamiliarity with the new instru¬ 
ments. That would give you 99. I’d hate to 
give you such a grade, though. That would be 
too good to be true. I’ll mark you 97.” 


92 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


“ But suppose I deserved the 99. Would that 
be fair? ” 

“ Young man,” said the chief electrician, “ I 
reckon there’s mighty few of us can qualify as 
being so near perfect. You ought to be mighty 
well pleased to get 97. The passing mark is 75, 
and mighty few ever get much above 90.” 

“Oh! I am well enough jdeased,” Henry 
went on. “ But that wasn’t the point. It’s a 
question of what I deserve.” 

“ I’m giving you all you deserve—maybe more 
than you deserve.” 

“ Then mark me down,” objected Henry. 
“If I deserve 99 I think I ought to have it. 
And if I don’t deserve 97, I ought not to have 97. 
I want what’s right. This examination is taken 
under somewhat unusual circumstances. I real¬ 
ize that. And I don’t want anybody to think it 
wasn’t perfectly on the level.” 

“ Don’t you worry about that. I’ll give you 
a grade that I think you are justly entitled to, 
and I’ll stand back of that grade to the last ditch. 
When we get right down to it, there’s more at 
stake than the matter of your grade. There’s 
my ability and honesty as an examiner. I’m not 
forgetting my own reputation in giving you your 
grade. That will be 97. Now I must copy in 
my log the message you caught.” 

“ What do you mean? ” asked Henry. 


A CALL FOR HELP 


93 


“ Why, you know the wireless man has to keep 
a wireless log just the same as the navigator has 
to keep a navigator’s log. I have to be able to 
show what goes on in the wireless house.” 

“ Just as we had to keep a record at the Frank¬ 
fort station, I suppose. What do you put in 
your logbook? ” 

“ Well, every day when we are not in port I 
have to send our position at certain hours to the 
radio station in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. I 
have to send all other messages. Records of 
these must be kept. All storm warnings and 
naval-station broadcasts must be taken. I must 
record the messages received, and, from time to 
time, something that one picks out of the air 
should be entered, merely to show that the radio 
man was on his job. So I’ll just enter that 
hurricane warning. It doesn’t concern us, but 
if it did affect us, I’d have to take it to the captain 
at once.” 

“ You said you had to send all messages,” re¬ 
plied Henry. “ Yoti didn’t mean that you send 
every message yourself, did you?” 

“"That’s exactly what I meant. I can’t take 
a chance on having anything happen to this out¬ 
fit. I’m responsible for it, and if it got burned 
out, the result might be a court-martial, with 
possible dishonorable dismissal and loss of citizen¬ 
ship. You see our power transformer steps the 


94 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


current up to eight thousand volts. A green 
operator doesn’t understand the rheostats, and 
would allow too great a voltage to pass through 
the generator. That would burn out the trans¬ 
former or puncture the condensers or break 
down the insulation in the spark-gap, according 
to which was the weakest. We usually carry 
spare condensers and spare jackets for the spark- 
gap, but no spare transformer. It’s a mighty 
serious thing to burn out a wireless set. If any¬ 
thing happened to the ship, there would be no 
way to call help, and the entire crew might, con¬ 
sequently, be lost.” 

During the chief radio man’s entire watch of 
four hours, Henry sat with him in the radio 
shack. After the examination was ended, Mr. 
Sharp connected up with the loud speaker of the 
radio, and the two watchers laid down their head¬ 
phones. They could talk freely. The loud 
speaker would tell them of every message in their 
wave-length that passed their way. To Henry 
this was, indeed, a rare opportunity. Again and 
again he went over every detail of the wireless 
apparatus, until he could have reconstructed the 
intricate outfit alone, had it been taken to pieces. 
And he asked the chief electrician countless ques¬ 
tions as to wireless practice. With the wide 
knowledge he already possessed, he was in a 
position to learn much in a short time. When 


A CALL FOR HELP 


95 


he left the wireless shack at the end of the watch, 
Henry felt that he had added much to his ability 
as a wireless man. 

If Henry could have heard Mr. Sharp’s report 
to Captain Hardwick, he would have been 
pleased, indeed. For the chief electrician went 
immediately to the captain’s cabin when the 
watch was ended. 

“ Does he know anything about wireless? ” 
asked the commander, when the chief radio man 
told him the examination was over. 

“ He’s a dandy, Captain,” smiled the wireless 
man. “ So far as the matter of wireless compre¬ 
hension and ability to receive and send are con¬ 
cerned, he’s easily superior to my regular as¬ 
sistants, much superior. But what I like about 
him is his spirit and his comprehension. He’s 
anything but a dumb-bell. I think he’s fairly 
entitled to a grade of 97 on his examination.” 

The captain smiled. “ I guess you are favor¬ 
ing him a bit,” he said. 

“ No, I am not. You see he has had an ex¬ 
cellent training. He was a substitute operator 
in the Frankfort government station for a time. 
They employ only first-class men in such a 
station, you know.” 

“ I’m glad to have such a favorable report of 
him. I’ve taken a great fancy to the lad, and 
wish he could be one of your assistants.” 


96 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


“ So do I,” said the chief electrician. 

“You might coach him a little and help him 
get ready for his second examination. He’ll be 
taking it somewhere sometime.” 

“ I’ll be glad to do so, Captain.” 

When Henry came to the cabin for the next 
meal, the captain said, “ Mr. Sharp tells me your 
work was sufficiently good to pass you. I am 
glad. I wish there were a vacancy here to which 
I could appoint you. I hope you will keep on 
studying and practicing so as to acquire real pro¬ 
ficiency. If you do, I shall be glad to do all I 
can to help you get a job.” 

“ I don’t know how to thank you, Captain 
Hardwick,” said Henry gratefully. “ What I 
can’t understand is why you should be willing to 
do so much for a boy who is a perfect stranger 
to you.” 

“ Would you really like to know? ” 

“ Indeed I would.” 

“ Then I’ll tell you. It is because of what I 
read in your face.” 

“What can you read in my face?” cried 
Henry in amazement. 

“ A great deal that you don’t dream of. Per¬ 
haps you do not know that all of us write our 
histories on our faces.” 

“ Our histories on our faces! ” repeated Henry. 
“ What do you mean, Captain? ” 


A CALL FOR HELP 


97 


“ I mean just what I say. I know exactly the 
sort of boy you are, just as well as though I had 
known you all your life. And I would know 
just as truly if you were mean or cowardly or 
dishonest.” 

Henry was too much astonished for words. 
The captain’s remark made him very serious for 
a time. “Gee whiz!” he thought. “If what 
the captain says is true, a fellow has to be mighty 
careful what he does. Why, just think of all the 
wonderful things that Captain Hardwick has 
done for me, and he says he did them because of 
what he read in my face. I can hardly believe 
it. Yet there must be something in it, for there 
are those two assistant radio men and I dislike 
the one and like the other, and it’s nothing in the 
world that makes me feel that way except their 
faces. Gee! I’m glad the captain didn’t dislike 
my face. And if what I do is going to affect my 
face and so affect my fortune, you can bet I’ll be 
mighty careful what I do.” 

Imbued, from this time forward, with the idea 
of becoming a radio man, Henry spent much of 
his time in the radio shack. His friendship for 
young Belford grew rapidly, and the two spent 
many pleasant hours together. They were about 
of an age and had much in common. Henry 
tried to be friendly with young Black, too, but 
the latter did not seem to welcome his advances. 


98 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


Nothing seemed to please him. He did not like 
his life on the Iroquois . He said his job was a 
miserable one, and when Henry asked why it was 
distasteful, he replied that being a radio man 
wasn’t bad in itself if only a fellow had decent 
companions to work with. Nobody, he said, 
could be expected to like his work if he had a 
boss like the chief electrician. 

“ Why don’t you like the chief electrician? ” 
Henry asked the lad. 

“ He’s a slave driver. He’s nothing but a 
crank,” and the lad swore viciously. 

“ Why do you think he is a crank? ” asked 
Henry. 

“ He’s too particular,” and again he swore. 
“ And he won’t let anybody touch his blamed old 
key but himself. You might think he owned it.” 

“ But just think,” urged Henry. “ This out¬ 
fit is worth ten thousand dollars. If it’s harmed, 
he is responsible for the damage.” 

“ Who’d hurt his old wireless? And, anyway, 
why should he care? It’s Uncle Sam’s, ain’t 
it?” 

Henry was shocked at the lad’s attitude. He 
wanted to tell him that if Mr. Sharp considered 
his assistants fully competent to operate the wire¬ 
less, he would doubtless gladly let them do their 
full share of the work. But he knew that would 
lead to a disagreeable argument, if not indeed to 


A CALL FOR HELP 


99 


an open quarrel, so he passed the matter off by 
saying, “ I suppose he has reasons we don’t 
know about.” 

“ Reasons,” sneered the operator. “ Sure he 
has, and I know what they are. He don’t want 
nobody but himself to get ahead. He wants to 
make me stay a third-class man. He ain’t will¬ 
ing to let me use the instruments so I can learn 
more about it. Oh! His reasons are plain 
enough. He’s got it in for me.” 

“ How long have you been on the Iroquois? ” 
asked Henry. 

“ Six months.” 

“ Then I suppose you have taken your ex¬ 
aminations for second-class operator.” 

“ Yes. And that old dumb-bell flunked me,” 
and again the lad swore viciously. 

But Henry had little time to ponder over the 
grievances of the radio man, unreasonable though 
he believed them to be. Every minute was filled 
with interest. Particularly was he pleased when 
a message came out of the air for the Iroquois, 
ordering her to proceed to Boston to take aboard 
certain stores at the Boston Navy Yard. Henry 
had never dreamed of seeing Boston, and he was 
overjoyed at the prospect. It might give him 
an opportunity to see Bunker Hill and other 
historic spots he had read about. 

The Iroquois, in her pursuit of the derelict, 


100 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

had run well up the New England coast, and it 
was not much out of her way to touch at Boston. 
The captain headed direct for that city, and 
Henry was looking forward to seeing, within a 
few hours, the scene of the Boston tea party, 
when another message came whining through the 
ether that made Henry for a time forget all about 
Boston. For this new message Henry read in 
the radio shack as young Black, who was on 
watch, copied it down. It read as follows: 

“ First mate nearly dead with fever. 

Can you give medical assistance? 
Heard you give your location. Our 
position is forty-three north latitude, 
sixty-five west longitude. Will stand 
by for reply.” 

The message came from a Norwegian tramp 
steamer, the Viking. Henry volunteered to take 
the message to the captain’s cabin. When the 
commander had read the message, he drew a 
chart from a drawer of his desk and picked up 
pencil and ruler. 

“We ought to be about at forty-one north and 
sixty-four west,” he muttered, marking the spot 
on his chart. “ The tramp is here,” and he made 
a second dot on his map. He drew an equilateral 
triangle on his map and noted where the shore¬ 
ward apex fell. “ We won’t have to go a fathom 


A CALL FOR HELP 


101 


out of our way,” he said. Then he drew a radio 
telegraph blank from the pigeonhole of his desk 
and wrote this message: 

“ Proceed to sixty-seven west and 
forty-two north and wait for the 
Iroquois, Will send surgeon aboard.” 

When Henry returned to the radio shack with 
the message, the chief electrician was there. 
“ Would you like to send the message yourself? ” 
he asked. 

“ Indeed I would,” said Henry. 

“ All right. Go ahead.” 

Henry sat down and flashed out the message as 
rapidly and surely as Mr. Sharp would have done 
it himself. 

“ Enter that in the log,” said the chief to 
young Black. 

The latter said nothing. Sullenly he picked 
up a pen and made the entry. But if black looks 
could have killed anybody, both Henry and the 
chief electrician would have dropped dead in their 
tracks. Before the young radio man had finished 
writing, another message came crackling aboard: 
“ Will meet you sixty-seven west, forty-two 
north.” 


CHAPTER VII 


A TRAMP OF THE SEAS 

T MMEDIATEL Y Henry made his way to the 
captain’s cabin again. He handed a copy of 
the despatch to the commander. 

“ Thank you,” said Captain Hardwick. 
Glancing at the message, he muttered his ap¬ 
proval. Just then the chief engineer, whom the 
commander had summoned, came into the cabin. 

“ Mr. Farley,” said the commander, “ there’s a 
tramp a little farther up the coast that just sent 
us a wireless for a doctor. Mate’s sick. We’ve 
told her where to meet us. It will take several 
hours to reach her. We’re making about twelve 
knots, aren’t we? Suppose you push her up to 
top speed, fifteen knots. We can slow down 
again after the doctor has seen the sick man.” 

“ Very well, sir.” And the chief engineer 
withdrew. 

At once the captain went to the chart-room. 
Lieutenant Hill was on duty. Together they 
figured out the new course and gave the direction 
to the helmsman, who brought the ship about. 
Meantime the vibration of the ship became more 
noticeable, and the grinding noise of her machin- 
102 


A TRAMP OF THE SEAS 


103 


ery grew louder. She began to forge ahead 
faster and faster. Soon she was throwing up a 
big bow wave and plunging through the seas at 
a fast pace. 

Although the wind had abated and the seas 
were greatly lessened, the Iroquois rolled more 
than she had rolled before, even when the wind 
was at its worst. That was because the ship was 
now running almost in the trough of the seas, 
whereas during the trip up the Gulf Stream both 
wind and seas had been almost dead astern. 

For a time Henry stood on the bridge, watch¬ 
ing the clear and sparkling sea. The quarter¬ 
master, Mr. Andrews, was also on watch, with 
the lieutenant. Henry was much drawn to the 
quartermaster. He was a young fellow not 
many years older than Henry himself. He had 
a fine fresh face, and his eye was alight with am¬ 
bition. His every movement suggested strength 
and energy and determination. As the ship’s 
bell struck the hour, he said: “ I must look at the 
log. Would you like to come with me? ” 

“ Sure,” said Henry, and the two slipped down 
the ladder to the deck and skipped aft. Henry 
was getting his sea-legs fast. 

Attached to the taffrail Henry saw the log the 
captain had described to him. It appeared to be 
merely a long piece of heavy twine, trailing be¬ 
hind the ship. But it was revolving fast. 


104 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


Henry looked over the rail at the little dials that 
registered the revolutions. 

“ We’re going a bit faster,” said the quarter¬ 
master. 

“ Yes,” replied Henry. “ The captain has 
put her under full speed.” And as they re¬ 
turned to the bridge Henry asked, “ How do you 
like life at sea? ” 

“ First rate,” said the quartermaster. “ There 
is always something to do, the pay is good, and 
there are opportunities for advancement. The 
captain is teaching me navigation, and some day 
I may be able to qualify as an officer in the 
merchant marine. He’s a grand man, is the 
captain.” 

“ I believe it,” said Henry. “ He sure has 
been fine to me.” 

“ He is to everybody who acts right. But, oh 
boy! You want to look out for him if you don’t 
do what’s right.” 

The ship rushed on. After a long time the 
quartermaster said, “ Do you know where we are 
to meet that tramp? ” 

“ Yes,” said Henry. “ At sixty-seven west, 
forty-two north.” 

The two stepped into the chart-room and 
looked at the marks on the chart. “ We ought 
to sight her within a few minutes,” remarked the 
quartermaster. 


A TRAMP OF THE SEAS 105 

“ May I go up in the crow’s-nest and look for 
her? ” asked Henry. 

“ Certainly, but be careful. If you aren’t used 
to climbing aloft, you might get a nasty fall. 
Take these glasses, but be careful of them.” 

Henry slipped the binoculars into the pocket 
of his coat, buttoned that garment tight, and 
started up the forward mast. He soon found 
that the quartermaster had told the truth. The 
rolling of the ship had seemed bad enough on the 
deck, but up the mast it seemed a hundred times 
worse, and the higher Henry went, the more 
violently the ship seemed to roll. 

In a sense Henry was right. His position 
was now like that of an inverted pendulum. 
When the ship rolled to one side, he was carried 
far out by the mast, until at times his body hung 
over the open sea, beyond the side of the ship. 
Then as the ship righted and rolled in the op¬ 
posite direction, Henry’s body shot through a 
wide arc and out over the other side of the vessel, 
for the ship was rolling at times at an angle of 
more than twenty degrees. At the first big roll 
Henry was almost frightened. He felt himself 
going, going, going, and he was sure the mast was 
going to give way and go on over with him, pitch¬ 
ing him into the briny deep. But just when he 
was sure the Iroquois must be turning over, she 
righted herself with a snap like the lash of a whip. 


106 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


Henry’s grasp was almost broken. He could 
hardly keep his feet on the ladder-rungs, either. 
Tightening his grip, he mounted upward as fast 
as he could, and presently found himself safe in 
the crow’s-nest. He sighed with relief. As long 
as the mast stood, he knew he was safe here. 

Intently now he swept the northern horizon 
with his glasses. Soon he noticed a ship, but a 
moment’s study showed him it was heading out to 
sea. Astern of her he soon saw another vessel. 
That one, too, was outward bound. But when 
he brought his glasses farther around toward 
land, he espied a steamer heading inward. He 
studied her intently. He thought she was sail¬ 
ing in a long diagonal, as though to cross the 
course of the Iroquois. For fifteen minutes he 
watched her. By this time both ships had traveled 
some miles, and the strange ship was much 
nearer. Her great bow wave showed she was 
being driven hard. There could be no doubt as 
to her course being diagonal with their own. The 
men on the bridge could now see her, too, so 
Henry pocketed his glasses and carefully climbed 
down again. 

“ I guess that’s the Viking ” said the quarter¬ 
master. Henry was surprised to find how little 
could yet be seen of the ship from the bridge. 

“ Couldn’t we find out by wireless? ” asked 
Henry. 


A TRAMP OF THE SEAS 107 

“ Sure. We can ask Sparks to give ’em a 

call.” 

“ I’ll do it,” said Henry, and he skipped down 
to the wireless shack. He never overlooked any 
opportunity to see the wireless man work his key. 

At Henry’s request, the wireless man gladly 
agreed to call the Viking . He threw over his 
switch and pressed the key, and Henry sat 
fascinated as he saw the bright flashes leap and 
crackle with the pressure of the key. 

“ WXY — WXY — WXY — de — NTE,” 
called the operator. 

Promptly came the response, “ NTE—NTE 
—NTE—de—WXY—K.” 

“ Can you see anything of the Iroquois? ” 
asked Mr. Sharp. “ We see a big freighter off 
our starboard bow, but don’t know if she is the 
Viking. Please give us your bearing on Iroquois. 
Will stand by for reply.” 

Presently came an answer. “ Can see you 
plainly. Bearing is south three-quarters east. 
You are only four or five miles distant.” 

“ That’s the Viking over there, without ques¬ 
tion,” said the wireless man as he shut off his 
power. “ Her bearing from us is exactly the 
opposite of our bearing from her. That would 
make it north three-quarters west. Take a look 
at the chart and you will see how it is.” 

Henry ran to the chart-room and laid a ruler 


108 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


along the course indicated. It pointed straight 
from the position of the Iroquois in the direction 
of the oncoming tramp. Then Henry stepped 
to the bridge. 

Rapidly now the two steamships drew nearer, 
converging toward a common point. As they 
approached closely enough for each to examine 
the other well, the sailors on the Iroquois crowded 
to the forward rail, while a row of sailors could 
be seen lining the side of the Viking . The latter 
was a large, clumsy-looking cargo-boat, and was 
quite evidently not in the best of condition. She 
needed paint badly. Great rusty blotches marred 
her dark sides. Her rigging looked rickety. 
Huge derricks rose fore and after, and the der¬ 
rick-booms were lashed horizontally, producing a 
peculiar appearance. At a little distance she 
looked as though she were equipped with elevated 
plank-walks. Her decks were littered with 
cargo. When the two vessels had come close to 
each other, both were stopped, and preparations 
were made to put the doctor aboard the Viking . 

A small boat was lowered on the leeward side 
of the Iroquois, and the doctor and the crew 
stepped into her as she dropped level with the rail. 
The doctor carried his medicine case. Suddenly 
Henry turned to the captain, who was watching 
operations. “ Might I go along? ” he asked. 

“ Do you want a passenger, Mr. Hill? ” asked 


A TRAMP OF THE SEAS 


109 


the captain, for the lieutenant was in charge of 
the boat. “ Mr. Harper here would like to 
go.” 

“ Jump in,” was the lieutenant’s reply, and 
Henry scrambled over the rail into the waiting 
boat. 

In another moment the boat was far on its way 
to the Viking , the men bending vigorously to 
their oars. How she did rise and fall. But 
Henry was not now alarmed by the motion, as 
he might have been earlier. A ladder was low¬ 
ered from the Viking as the small boat drew near. 
The little craft was laid skillfully alongside, the 
sailors made fast with their boat-hooks, and the 
doctor scrambled up the ladder, followed by the 
lieutenant and Henry. Some of the sailors also 
came aboard. 

The captain welcomed the lieutenant and the 
doctor warmly, and then led the way to the 
officers’ quarters. The officers were plainly for¬ 
eign. They were bearded and ruddy, with light 
hair, and with the strong, honest countenances so 
typical of Scandinavians. Henry knew without 
being told that they came from Norway or 
Sweden. They were decently dressed in the 
customary uniforms of sea officers. 

Curious to know how a merchantman’s cabin 
compared with that of the Iroquois, Henry fol¬ 
lowed the doctor. He found the officers’ quarters 


110 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


very comfortable, but not nearly so elaborate as 
those on the Coast Guard cutter. The mate was 
in his bunk, and was quite evidently very ill. He 
was pale and wasted and he tossed feebly on his 
mattress, muttering unintelligibly in his native 
tongue. Plainly he was out of his head. The 
room smelled close and foul, with that sour, of¬ 
fensive odor so peculiar to sick rooms. It was 
more than Henry could stand, and he retreated 
to the deck. 

With interest he examined the big freighter. 
It was the first time he had ever been aboard such 
a vessel. She was a ship of good length, built 
for capacity rather than speed, and her lines were 
as ample as those of a Dutch hausfrau. They 
made the boat appear clumsy. She was cut low 
amidship, her forecastle and afterdecks being 
built at a higher level. The long stretch of clear 
deck, unbroken by superstructure, made the craft 
seem longer than she really was. Fore and aft 
rose the enormous cargo-derricks, which had been 
so conspicuous from a distance. And Henry was 
interested to see how the derrick-booms were 
lashed in their places. The cargo hatches were 
mostly battened down. 

But Henry had little interest in anything else, 
once he had a good look at the crew, grouped 
along the forward rail. When he saw them, it 
seemed as though he had somehow been magically 


A TRAMP OF THE SEAS 


111 


transported of a sudden to a strange and foreign 
land. Never had he seen such a queer-looking 
lot of men as these sailors. There were Chinese, 
with their yellow, sickly-looking skins and dark 
crowns and curious-shaped eyes: and Lascars, 
swarthy and stolid and mysterious looking: and 
little, black-eyed Japanese, with their straight, 
coarse black hair and inscrutable faces. And the 
sounds—the grunts and curious guttural mum¬ 
blings—that arose among these Oriental sailors 
were as odd and unintelligible as the men them¬ 
selves appeared to be. Henry wondered how 
white men could possibly bring themselves to live 
with such seemingly uncongenial companions in 
such an isolated and lonely place as an ocean¬ 
going steamer. Much as he thought he would 
like life at sea, he was certain he would not like 
it if he had to live under such conditions. 

When Henry’s eye caught sight of the wire¬ 
less antennae, he decided at once to visit the wire¬ 
less man. Following the lead-in wire with his 
eye, he located the wireless shack, and promptly 
knocked at the door. He was both surprised and 
pleased when the door was thrown open and a 
cheery voice said, in good English, though with 
a foreign accent: “ Good-day, sir. I am glad to 
see you. Won’t you come in? ” 

“ Thank you,” said Henry. “ I will be glad to 
come in. I am interested in wireless.” 


112 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

“ Are you an operator yourself? ” asked the 
Viking's wireless man. 

“ Not exactly. I was an operator at one of 
the United States stations for a little while. I 
am trying to get a place as operator in the Coast 
Guard. I’m taking a trip with the Iroquois now. 
It’s my first trip at sea.” 

“ Then you can read and send readily.” 

“ Oh, yes.” 

“ Would you like to say ‘ How do you do ’ to 
the operator on the Iroquois?” 

“ Be tickled to death,” said Henry. 

“ Very well. Do it,” said the operator. 

Henry sat down at the Viking 3 s key and threw 
on the power. “ NTE—NTE—NTE—de— 
WXY,” he flashed. And, almost before he had 
taken his finger from the key, there came crack¬ 
ling in his ear the reply: “WXY—WXY— 
WXY—de—NTE—K.” 

Even had he been a thousand miles away, 
Henry would not have needed to inquire who was 
sending. There could be no mistaking the 
smooth, even, rapid telegraphing of Mr. Sharp. 

“ Hello, Mr. Sharp,” rapped out Henry. 
“ This is Henry Harper. The operator has been 
courteous enough to allow me to use his equip¬ 
ment. The Viking is a very interesting boat.” 

Henry almost said she was a mighty curious 
old tub, but he remembered in time that his host 


A TRAMP OF THE SEAS 


113 


could read all he was sending. He was about to 
add more, when he saw the lieutenant and the 
doctor step on deck. So he said good-bye, 
thanked the operator for his courtesy, and joined 
the little group from the Iroquois . 

The more he saw of the freighter, the more he 
was pleased with his own little boat. The Viking*s 
wireless did not compare with the equipment of 
the Iroquois, any more than the rest of the boat 
compared with the cutter for comfort and looks. 
If there was anything lacking to make Henry 
sure of the difference, he found it when the doctor 
went into the forecastle, to treat a sick sailor. 

Henry went, too, but he did not remain long. 
The frightful smell in the crew’s quarters almost 
sickened him. Everything was dirty and foul 
and disorderly. Henry knew that in the crew’s 
quarters on the Iroquois, though there was not 
much room, and there was more or less odor from 
the cook’s galley, at least everything was scrupu¬ 
lously neat and spotlessly clean. All that he saw 
made Henry the more certain that he had chosen 
wisely in planning to get into the Coast Guard 
service. And when he stepped to the deck and 
found himself at close quarters with the crew, he 
knew he had made no mistake. Some American 
sailors might be “ tough,” he thought, but they 
were a million times more desirable as shipmates 
than these unintelligible Orientals. 


114 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


Henry was glad enough when the doctor at last 
reappeared on the deck and prepared to return 
to the cutter. Good-byes were said, the Viking’s 
captain thanked the doctor and the lieutenant, 
Henry called farewell to the wireless man, and in 
a minute or two the little party from the cutter 
was bobbing up and down again on the waves, on 
the way to the Iroquois . Then the small boat 
was hoisted, swung inboard, and made fast. The 
ship’s propeller began to revolve, the water 
foamed at the bow, and, swinging into her course 
once more, the Iroquois was soon speeding to¬ 
ward Boston. 


CHAPTER VIII 


IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 

JT was already dusk and night was at hand 
when the Iroquois was ready to head for 
Boston. Already those off duty had eaten. The 
captain, however, still remained on deck. He 
waited to make sure the ship was on her proper 
course, for the new ensign was the only commis¬ 
sioned officer now on duty, and the captain hesi¬ 
tated to allow him to figure the course alone. 
But the ensign did it with the captain looking on, 
and set the course with perfect accuracy. 

“ Very good,” said the captain. “We have 
something like two hundred miles to go, and we 
stand on this course the entire distance. Tell 
the helmsman to hold her northwest three- 
quarters west.” 

The ensign delivered the message, and the cap¬ 
tain heard the man at the wheel respond: “ Aye, 
aye, sir. Northwest three-quarters west.” Then 
the commander headed for his supper. 

Henry stood at the foot of the ladder, waiting 
for him. “ Captain Hardwick,” he said, “ the 
quartermaster has asked me if I would take sup¬ 
per with him. May I? ” 

115 


116 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


“ So you’re tired of the old skipper already, are 
you? ” laughed the captain. 

Henry was a bit embarrassed. “No, in¬ 
deed, I am not, Captain, but you see, I—I-” 

“ Run along, lad, and enjoy yourself. The old 
skipper has eaten by himself too long to be wor¬ 
ried about one more meal a la solitaire ” And 
he patted Henry gently on the shoulder. 

Henry was more than glad to be allowed to 
eat with the quartermaster. He liked him 
greatly, and, furthermore, the latter had offered 
to show him the forward part of the ship. Ex¬ 
cepting for his hurried trip to the fireroom and 
back, when he had caught a glimpse of the in¬ 
terior of the Iroquois, Henry had as yet been 
nowhere below deck except in the captain’s cabin 
and in the wardroom. His visit to the Viking 
had made him curious to see just how the sailors 
on the Iroquois did live, anyway: and he knew 
he would see them in their true colors if he went 
with the quartermaster. There wouldn’t be any 
standing at attention, as might be the case if 
the captain was along. But before they could 
do any sightseeing, the two young men had to 
eat. 

As they climbed down the steps to the mess 
room forward, Henry said to his companion: “ I 
wonder why the captain prefers to live alone in 
his cabin. Of course it’s all right to be alone 



IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 117 

when he wants to work or read, but I should sup¬ 
pose he’d prefer to live with his officers.” 

“ The matter of preference doesn’t enter into 
it,” said the quartermaster. “ He has to live 
alone in his cabin. The service regulations re¬ 
quire it.” 

“ I don’t see any sense to that,” said Henry. 

“ Perhaps not. But you would if you were a 
seaman. Rules like that are necessary to pre¬ 
serve discipline. The captain must be the abso¬ 
lute and unquestioned boss. His word is law on 
shipboard. That is necessary for the safety of 
the ship. And everything is done to make his 
subordinates understand that he is absolute. 
This matter of living apart emphasizes all 
this.” 

“ I see,” said Henry. “ And I suppose the 
same reason holds for the officers living in the 
wardroom.” 

“ Exactly.” 

“ But what about the warrant officers? They 
have to be obeyed, too. Yet they don’t seem to 
be singled out in this way.” 

“ Oh, yes they are. You know there are four 
messes on this boat—the captain’s mess, at which 
you have been eating, the wardroom mess, the 
warrant officers’ mess, and the general mess for 
the crew.” 

“ I see,” said Henry. “ But what do you do 


118 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


in a case like the present? It must be an hour or 
more since mess gear was piped.” 

“ Oh, there’s always a second mess for those 
who are on duty at meal time. We’ll not have 
any trouble about that.” 

By this time the two had taken their seats at 
the general mess table in the forward part of the 
ship. The crew had eaten and gone away, but a 
few seamen who had been on duty were now 
seated at the long table. A mess attendant 
brought Henry and the quartermaster food, and 
the two ate heartily. As they ate, Henry talked 
with the seamen about him. At first he didn’t 
know how to engage them in conversation, but 
when he mentioned baseball, they responded 
readily enough. The world’s series was near at 
hand, and Henry soon found that there are no 
keener baseball fans than American sailors. In 
a little while he was on good terms with a number 
of seamen. 

When the meal was ended, they went direct to 
the fireroom, descending by iron steps into the 
very bowels of the ship. The farther down they 
went, the hotter it became, and Henry wondered 
how men could ever endure it to work in such 
heat. In front of the furnaces the heat was 
simply unbearable, and when the firemen threw 
open the furnace doors, Henry backed as far 
away as he could. It seemed as though the awful 


IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 119 


rush of heat would roast him. Yet the stokers 
stood directly before the open doors and worked 
at the glowing fires. Henry was surprised to see 
that they wore thick flannel shirts. Later he 
learned that without those shirts they could 
hardly have endured the heat, either. The wool 
shut out the terrible heat. These stokers were on 
duty only two hours or so at a time. Even such 
short watches were exhausting. And when 
Henry and his guide later came up from the fire- 
room, they noticed firemen, black with coal dust, 
stretched out here and there in the passages, 
sleeping soundly on the hard floors, where they 
had dropped when they came out of the fireroom. 

The great boilers and the huge engines inter¬ 
ested Henry greatly. How smoothly the pistons 
shot back and forth, how the various wheels 
turned endlessly, how the great shaft revolved 
ceaselessly. Henry saw the oilers passing from 
part to part of the engine-room, watching, oiling, 
tightening or loosening nuts, wiping this or that 
with oily rags, always alert, watching their en¬ 
gines as a mother watches her child. When 
Henry thought of the grimy coal passers he had 
just seen, conveying the fuel for the furnaces, 
and the men keeping the fires at red heat, and 
the engineers watching the great machines that 
drove the ship, and the sailors standing watch 
forward in the dark, and the helmsman at the 


120 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


wheel, with his eye directed steadfastly at the 
compass, he saw how necessary every part of the 
ship was to the other parts, and how especially 
necessary it was that the man in charge be ever 
vigilant, and that instant and unquestioning 
obedience be rendered to him. Henry began to 
see why it was a good thing for the captain to 
live in state, alone. 

It occurred to him that there must be quanti¬ 
ties of explosives aboard a ship like this cutter. 
Indeed, some of them had just been used, and 
Henry knew how powerful they were. He won¬ 
dered if these were also watched. He put the 
question to the quartermaster. 

“You can bet your life the explosives are 
watched. They are examined every day. You 
know there’s a lot of guncotton among them, and 
if that stuff deteriorates, it’s likely to make 
trouble.” 

“ But how can they tell if it does deteriorate? ” 

“ Oh, that’s easy. There’s litmus paper packed 
in each jar of the stuff. That will change color 
if the guncotton begins to go bad. Haven’t you 
noticed that heavy, peculiar-shaped flash-light in 
the captain’s cabin? That’s the light they use in 
examining the explosives in the magazine.” 

“ I should think it wouldn’t be safe to store 
explosives so near those hot furnaces.” 

“ It wouldn’t be. The magazine is in the very 


IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 121 


stern of the ship, right under the captain’s cabin. 
You eat and sleep right over the explosives.” 

Henry could almost feel his hair rise on end. 
“ Jumping Jupiter! ” he exclaimed. “ I do? ” 

The quartermaster laughed. “If the things in 
the magazine ever let go,” he said, “ I guess the 
folks in the cabin wouldn’t be much worse off 
than the rest of us. The explosives there would 
tear this old boat all to pieces.” After what 
Henry had seen so lately, he could believe it. 

The two continued their tour of investigation. 
Henry saw the little office of the chief engineer, 
and spoke to Mr. Farley, who was at work 
therein. He saw the cook’s galley, with its enor¬ 
mous range, and the place for stores, where food 
is kept. He saw, too, the compartments farther 
forward where paints were stored. It amazed 
him to find what great quantities of paints and 
oils and varnishes were needed for such a small 
ship. And Henry remembered, too, that at the 
time he first came aboard sailors were working 
on slings over the side, scrubbing the hull with 
swabs. No wonder she always looked so spick 
and span. It would have been a good thing, 
Henry thought, if the Viking had some of these 
paints, and her crew could touch up and clean her 
sides. 

Before the two came up on deck, the quarter¬ 
master also showed Henry the place forward 


122 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

where ropes, chains, cables, anchors, and similar 
gear were kept. Such hawsers Henry had never 
seen before. 

“ How big are they, anyway? ” he asked. 

“ Those are twelve-inch hawsers,” said the 
quartermaster. “ The captain thinks there’s 
nothing like a twelve-inch hawser for towing dis¬ 
abled ships, unless it’s those heavy wire cables. 
You just can’t break them. It’s very difficult to 
get them aboard of another ship in a heavy sea, 
though. They haven’t the buoyancy of manila 
hawsers.” 

“ I see,” said Henry. “ But why do you call 
those manila hawsers twelve-inch hawsers ? They 
look to me only about four inches in diameter. 
Maybe they are a bit more. But they aren’t any¬ 
thing like twelve inches.” 

“ Oh, it’s the circumference and not the diam¬ 
eter of a hawser we reckon by. You are right 
in thinking that hawser is nearly four inches in 
diameter. It’s also about twelve inches in cir¬ 
cumference.” 

“ To be sure,” said Henry. “ The circum¬ 
ference of a circle is always a little more than 
three times the diameter.” 

As they made their way back from the bow, 
where the hawsers were stored, the quartermaster 
pointed out to Henry the hammock-hooks over¬ 
head, and showed him some of the hammocks 


IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 123 

rolled and stowed away. Already one or two 
men were asleep in theirs, swinging gently with 
the motion of the ship. 

“ How in the mischief did they ever get up 
there? ” asked Henry. 

“ Pulled themselves up with their arms,” 
smiled the quartermaster. “ If ever you become 
a sailor, don’t let them kid you into looking for 
the hammock-ladder. That’s a favorite trick 
played on apprentice seamen. Sometimes a kid 
keeps hunting for a hammock-ladder for an hour 
or more.” 

“ Thanks for putting me wise,” said Henry. 
“ I hope to go to sea some day, and I reckon I’ll 
be the worst greenhorn that ever was.” 

They started to go on deck. “ There’s one 
thing I don’t understand,” said Henry. “ Why 
are those men going to bed so early? Why, it’s 
only a little while after supper.” 

“ They have to do duty in the graveyard 
watch.” 

“ The graveyard watch? What is that, any¬ 
way?” 

“ Don’t you know about the watches on ship¬ 
board? ” 

“ No.” 

“ Then I’ll tell you. You can see for yourself 
that men must be on duty constantly in all parts 
of the ship. So the day is divided into little 


124 


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stretches that we call watches. From noon to 
four o’clock is the afternoon watch; four to six 
p. m. is the first day watch, and six to eight is the 
second day watch. The evening watch is from 
eight to twelve midnight. That’s a favorite 
watch, as it means very little loss of sleep. The 
hard watch is from midnight to four a. m. That 
is the mid-watch, but we call it the graveyard 
watch. The watch from four to eight a. m. is the 
morning watch, and sometimes it is also called 
the navigator’s watch. That isn’t a bad watch, 
either. The other watch is from eight o’clock to 
noon, and is called the eight-to-twelve watch.” 

“ Gee! ” exclaimed Henry. “ There certainly 
is a lot to learn about a boat, isn’t there? ” 

“ Right you are,” said the quartermaster. “ I 
suppose nobody ever learns all there is to know 
about sailing a ship.” 

By this time the two friends had reached the 
deck. At first Henry could see nothing in the 
thick darkness. Then, as he became accustomed 
to the night, he could make out all the features 
that had now become so familiar to him. Also, 
he saw some things that were not familiar to him. 
Little dark objects were moving about on the 
deck. At first Henry was not sure that he saw 
aright, but when he was certain that something 
really was moving, he said to his companion, 
“ What is it that we see on the deck? ” 


IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 125 


“ Birds,” said the quartermaster. “ Wait 
until I get a flash-light. We’ll gather them up 
and take them to the captain. He’s mighty fond 
of them.” 

He disappeared in the darkness and presently 
returned with his flash-light. Together the two 
searched the deck from bow to stern. Many 
little birds lay cold and stiff. They had evidently 
flown into something and killed themselves. Re¬ 
gretfully, the searchers threw their bodies into 
the sea. The living birds seemed to be unharmed, 
and suffered themselves to be picked up without 
protest. Seven were found, and, carrying these, 
the two descended to the captain’s cabin and 
knocked at the door. 

“Well, well,” said the commander, as they 
entered. “ Some more pets for me, eh? Thank 
you, Quartermaster.” 

The captain placed the little birds in the deep 
embrasures of the air-ports. Then he got 
saucers of water and some crumbs for them, but 
they would not eat. 

“ Utterly exhausted, I suppose,” said the cap¬ 
tain. “ It’s strange that such tiny creatures will 
venture so far away from land.” 

Henry returned to the deck with the quarter¬ 
master. He spent a few minutes in the wireless 
shack, then went on the bridge. But he had been 
up a long time and on the go every minute of the 


126 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


day. Soon he was nodding. Presently he said 
good-night to the men on watch, and in a few 
moments was sound asleep in his bunk, while the 
ship stood steadily on her course toward Boston 
Light. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE CITY OF PAUL REVERE 

A S usual, Henry found that the captain was 
^ ^ up and about when he himself awoke. As 
he hustled into his clothes he felt ashamed to seem 
to be such a laggard. He found, however, that 
he wasn’t so late as he had thought. In fact, it 
was still early, but the captain was such a tireless 
worker that one would indeed have had to get up 
early to be ahead of him. As usual, he was at 
his desk. He rose as Henry entered the cabin. 
In his hand was a red-bordered Coast Guard 
radio telegraph blank. 

“ Good-morning,” said the captain. “ How 
are you this morning? ” 

“ Just the very best,” said Henry. “ I hope 
that I am not too late. I wanted to be up before 
we reached the harbor. Are we anywhere near 
Boston? ” 

“ You’re just in time. We’re off Boston 
Light now. I am just going to send this mes¬ 
sage to the Commandant of the Navy Yard.” 

The commander reached for his call-bell, but 
Henry held out his hand. “ Let me take it,” he 
offered. 


127 


128 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


The captain handed him the message. Henry 
folded the sheet, writing innermost. The com¬ 
mander smiled approval. “ You may read it,” 
he said. 

Henry opened the blank. It was addressed 
to the Commandant of the Boston Navy Yard 
and read: “ Request permission to land at Navy 
Yard to obtain supplies from the Oneida . C. 
Hardwick, Commander, Iroquois” 

“ Do you have to get permission to enter the 
Navy Yard? ” exclaimed Henry. 

“ Yes, indeed, whether you come by land or by 
sea.” 

Henry carried the message to the radio shack, 
and Mr. Sharp got it off at once. Then he went 
to the bridge and bade the men on watch good¬ 
morning, but he had little inclination for talk. 
The wonderful scene that presented itself ahead 
fascinated him. 

Already they had passed Boston Light, and 
the Iroquois was heading directly for a low-lying 
island that lay in the water like a huge, gray- 
brown button. It was George’s Island, and the 
queer-looking, mound-like eminence on it was 
Fort Warren. Henry learned that a moment 
later when he stepped into the chart-room and 
studied the map. He wanted to know exactly 
what he was seeing. 

Close beside George’s Island lay Lovell’s 


THE CITY OF PAUL REVERE 129 

Island, a big, hulking, rocky bit of land that 
reached some little elevation. There was also a 
third island, Gallup Island. And these three, 
like nuts between the extended jaws of a pair of 
pincers, lay between the long, tapering ends of 
the mainland that thrust out into the sea for 
miles. Behind these pincers was a great bay, 
practically land-locked, and filled with islands. 
Its coast line was cut and gashed with points 
and inlets. Everywhere the combers were crash¬ 
ing on the beaches and shining white in the 
morning sun. And on these islands and points, 
and along the shore, stood innumerable cot¬ 
tages, which Henry judged must be summer 
residences. 

As the Iroquois approached George’s Island 
the ship was headed northwest one-half north. 
Now she steamed between Gallup and Lovell’s 
Islands, and Henry examined with interest the 
quarantine station on the former. Past Deer 
Island they went, with its huge and gloomy- 
looking prison and great stone walls, and past 
Long Island and Spectacle Island, which got its 
name because it is shaped not unlike a huge pair 
of nose-glasses. And, turning as the channel 
twisted, the Iroquois worked her way into the 
ever-narrowing mouth of the harbor, with the 
captain now on the bridge, conning the ship 
through the tortuous passage. Thompson’s 


130 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


Island was passed, and Governor’s Island, with 
Fort Winthrop, and now the narrow harbor was 
close at hand. Meantime the radio man had 
handed to the captain the answer to the latter’s 
wireless message, directing him where to dock the 
Iroquois . 

How interesting it was to Henry. To be sure, 
the scene lacked the picturesqueness of the New 
York Harbor, with its unique sky line and its 
Liberty Statue, yet it was wonderfully fascinat¬ 
ing. High before them towered two shafts. 
One was almost exactly like the Washington 
Monument, which was entirely familiar to Henry 
even though he had never seen it. He rightly 
guessed that this must be Bunker Hill Monu¬ 
ment, and he was glad that it was so near at hand. 
If he had opportunity, he meant to visit it. The 
other tower was just as evidently a building. It 
reminded Henry of the Metropolitan Tower in 
New York. The captain told him it was the 
Boston Custom House. The remainder of the 
city looked much like any other city. It was a 
mass of buildings, some big and some little, 
crowded together so that one could hardly be dis¬ 
tinguished from another. In the docks lay 
vessels—goodly steamships and some many- 
masted schooners; and of course there were tugs 
and smaller craft. But the harbor life was quiet 
indeed compared with the bustle in the waters of 


THE CITY OF PAUL REVERE 131 

New York Bay. Nevertheless, it interested 
Henry deeply. 

When the Iroquois at last lay snug in her dock 
in the Boston Navy Yard, Henry was almost 
spellbound. Never had he dreamed of seeing 
such a collection of vessels. Immediately across 
the pier from the Iroquois he saw a ship standing 
high in air, with her keel not only out of water, 
but almost at the level of the pier itself. Henry 
had never seen anything like this before, and his 
astonishment was hardly lessened when the cap¬ 
tain told him that this was the marine railway 
on which ships were hauled out of water, and that 
the vessel on the railway was the Coast Guard 
cutter, Oneida . Her bottom was being scraped 
and painted, and she was getting some new rivets 
in her plates. 

But if Henry was astonished to see a ship high 
up in the air, he was hardly less amazed to see 
another far down in the bowels of the earth, for 
on the other side of the Iroquois, at no great 
distance, a little lean, gray boat, was propped 
upright in the centre of a great hole that had been 
dug in the earth. She was deep down. Henry 
judged her keel must be a full thirty feet below 
the level of the surrounding earth. There was 
no water in the hole, and workmen were busy all 
about the little ship. As Henry soon discovered, 
this boat was in one of the Navy Yard dry docks. 


132 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


He asked permission to look around, and the cap¬ 
tain told him to go where he liked, but cautioned 
him not to take too great liberties. 

Henry stepped ashore and ran over to the dry 
dock. He was more amazed than ever when he 
stood on the edge of it and looked down into it. 
It was, indeed, a great hole in the ground—an 
excavation hundreds of feet long and many yards 
wide. The sides were made of massive masonry, 
built up like steps, of huge blocks of granite. 
The dry dock was as deep as a tall house is high. 
In shape it was long, and would have been 
rectangular had its inner end been square in¬ 
stead of rounding. The other end, the square end, 
was what interested Henry, for when he came 
to examine it, he found it was nothing but a 
water-gate. It was a great steel structure, tre¬ 
mendously braced to make it strong, though at 
first glimpse it seemed much like the rest of the 
wall. This steel end or gate held the water out, 
for, of course, the dry dock opened into the 
harbor. It was so made that water could pour 
through open ports, filling the dock. Then the 
gate itself could be swung outward to one side, 
so that a ship could enter the dock, and when the 
gate was once more swung in place and the open¬ 
ings closed, pumps were put at work and all the 
water pumped out, leaving the ship propped up 
securely on keel blocks. Thus the workmen 


THE CITY OF PAUL REVERE 133 

could work at every part of the ship at the same 
time. 

And they were indeed working at every part 
of this ship at once, for Henry now saw with 
even greater astonishment that the ship had been 
cut in two. The bow, which had been sheared off 
in a collision, and the after part of the boat were 
blocked in position, and these two parts were now 
being reunited. The vessel was a torpedo boat 
and had been in collision with a larger craft. 

Henry was glad to see her, because he had 
never before seen a torpedo boat close at hand. 
She was long, low, rakish, and built much like a 
knife. Indeed, she had to be long and thin to 
attain the tremendous speed at which these boats 
are sometimes driven, for they travel as fast as 
express trains. 

When he had satisfied his curiosity, Henry 
made a more general survey of his surroundings. 
He noticed the great coal bunkers, where naval 
vessels coaled. Little cars were traveling up an 
inclined railway, like a procession of elephants, 
and dropping loads of coal in the elevated bunk¬ 
ers, whence it could be shot downward to ships 
lying alongside. He saw great numbers of huge 
anchors and cables and chains, and other ship’s 
gear, lying on a pier. And there were several 
huge barges floating in a dock, each containing as 
many naval launches as its deck space would 


134 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

hold. Still other barges were laden with lumber 
and iron and similar stores. There were great 
cranes afloat and ashore. 

Near by, too, an eagle boat lay in a dock. 
Henry was glad to see it. He had read about 
these submarine chasers during the war, but had 
never seen one close at hand. This vessel was 
something more than one hundred feet long, very 
narrow, low-lying, with some guns mounted on 
the low deck, and her superstructure amidships. 
Her wireless antennae and her guns both held 
Henry’s attention. The longer he looked at her, 
the more he wondered that she could withstand 
the sea. He knew something about waves now, 
and he was sure that in a rough sea they would 
sweep across the decks of this little craft again 
and again. At once he gained a higher opinion 
of the hardy men who sailed these craft, in fair 
weather and foul, and guarded the shipping lanes 
during the war. 

When Henry had seen all he could see from 
the immediate neighborhood of the Iroquois 3 pier, 
he started to walk along the water-front. 
Almost the first thing he came upon was a sub¬ 
marine. He was immensely pleased to see one of 
these ships so close at hand. The tide was low, 
and the little craft sat in her dock as snug as a 
duck in the reeds. Like the torpedo boat and 
the eagle boat, the submarine was painted gray. 


THE CITY OF PAUL REVERE 


135 


She was some hundreds of feet long, and made 
Henry think of a huge log afloat. Her rounded 
sides rose only a few feet above the water. 
Amidships was the conning tower, with its peri¬ 
scope. There were short masts for wireless an¬ 
tennas. The very top of the hull was flattened, 
so that the crew could walk on it. Along the 
sides of this narrow deck were short uprights 
with eyelets at their tops, which a life-line 
pierced, and this line was the only rail the sailors 
had to keep them from falling into the sea. Per¬ 
haps it was the big guns fastened to the deck that 
most interested Henry. There was no way to 
protect them from the sea, and when the ship was 
running submerged, he saw that these guns 
would stand right up in the water. The hori¬ 
zontal rudders, by means of which the ship was 
enabled to dive under the waves, were also inter¬ 
esting. They were pivoted, so that, when not in 
use, they folded back into depressions in the hull 
of the ship, just as a fish’s fins are sometimes 
folded close against its body. 

When Henry walked to the next piers he was 
thrilled, indeed, for there lay two of our great 
fighting ships, the battleships Utah and Dela¬ 
ware. What ponderous, grim, menacing hulks 
they were. How high their decks were. How 
their superstructures towered aloft. How 
threatening their turreted guns appeared. And 


136 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


what curious structures the basketwork masts 
were. It seemed to Henry as though each of 
these ships must contain a whole village of 
people, for he could see sailors by the hundreds 
on board. Some were washing the ships’ sides, 
some were at work on the decks, some were up in 
the superstructures. Wherever he looked, he 
seemed to see men. And it was just like the 
dismissal of church or school when a party of 
bluejackets came ashore on leave. They 
poured down the gangplanks in masses, and 
went jauntily off toward the gate for their 
holiday. 

There were other ships, too. One was evi¬ 
dently a new vessel. It was fiery red in its first 
coat of paint, and had peculiar lines, different 
from those of any ship Henry had yet seen. 
The superstructure appeared to be but one story 
high and to extend nearly the length of the 
vessel. It was perfectly level, with no railings 
about it. Henry was so astonished at the un¬ 
usual appearance of the craft that he stepped up 
to a group of workmen and asked what the ship 
was. 

“ That’s the Whitney ” said one of the men. 
“ She was just launched a few days ago. She’s 
a submarine tender.” 

“ What a queer top she has,” remarked Henry. 

“ Yes,” agreed the workmen. “ She was de- 


THE CITY OF PAUL REVERE 


137 


signed for an aeroplane carrier, but they changed 
her into a submarine tender.” 

“ Oh, I see,” responded Henry. “ I suppose 
that explains the long, flat top of her super¬ 
structure. That’s where the aeroplanes were to 
alight at sea.” 

Henry thanked his informant and hurried on. 
He saw the great collier Neptune, and an oil 
carrier, the Arethusa, and the scout cruiser 
Chester . The latter two lay side by side, and it 
made Henry actually laugh to see the difference 
in their build. The swift scout cruiser was lean 
and high, the oil carrier lower and fat, with sides 
that actually bulged. The two ships were as 
different in appearance as a lean greyhound and 
a fat collie. 

But of all the craft in the Navy Yard none so 
fascinated Henry as the old battleship Constitu¬ 
tion . For there, close beside these modern ships 
of war, lay old Ironsides, the frigate of forty 
battles, in which she never knew defeat, the oldest 
and most famous vessel in the United States 
Navy. There she lay, almost as old as the nation 
itself, for she was built in 1797, and she was yet 
sound. 

Thrilled by the sight, Henry stood on the pier 
beside her and examined her every rope and spar. 
Her hull was one of those blocky, bulky, up¬ 
standing structures typical of the long ago. 


138 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


High above the water line, at intervals of a few 
feet, open ports reached from stem to stern, and 
from each open port projected the grim and 
threatening muzzle of a cannon. Her three 
masts were the most enormous spars Henry had 
ever seen. Scores of feet they towered aloft, for 
mast stood upon mast, the topmast being sur¬ 
mounted with still a third mast, until there was a 
most bewildering array of shrouds and rigging. 
And such rigging! Often enough had Henry 
seen the rigging of modern sailing ships. He 
knew well enough what these rope ladders that 
lead to the crosstrees look like in modern boats. 
But here, instead of the customary three stays on 
a side, were stays after stays, with their cross¬ 
pieces, so that many men at a time could swarm 
up and down the rigging, and out on those enor¬ 
mous spars to furl the sails, for the ship was a 
square rigger. And at the crosstrees were great 
platforms where a dozen men could stand. 
Henry saw right away the reason for these plat¬ 
forms. Sailors could stand here after furling 
the sails. Sharpshooters could be stationed here, 
where they could see over the smoke cloud, to 
pick off officers and men on opposing vessels, for 
in those days vessels fought side by side, and even 
sought to grapple each other so that crews could 
fight hand to hand. The old ship’s bowsprit, 
too, was of unbelievable dimensions, extending 


THE CITY OF PAUL REVERE 


139 


yards and yards beyond the bow and reaching an 
incredible elevation. 

Henry saw that visitors were permitted on 
board, and he walked up the gangplank. The 
deck of the Constitution was not unlike the deck 
of any other sailing ship. But the gun deck, be¬ 
low, was fascinating. It was a great bare section 
of the ship, whence projected the gun muzzles, 
and in it was nothing but an ancient stove amid¬ 
ships, for heating cannon balls red hot, and the 
rows of cannon on either side. Henry was 
amazed at the number of these guns. A placard 
told him that the ship originally carried forty- 
four. These were bulky, chunky affairs, mounted 
on heavy wooden carriages, with small wheels be¬ 
neath, and great hawsers and tackles holding 
them in place. There were no breechloaders in 
the days when the Constitution fought. Then 
each gun had to be run through its port and 
swabbed out and loaded through the muzzle, and 
then it was run out again with the tackle, blocked 
in place, and fired. 

Henry could have spent hours examining the 
old craft, but he did not know how long the 
Iroquois would lie in the Navy Yard, and he 
wanted to see all he could while he was in Boston. 
So he reluctantly took a last look at this famous 
old frigate, and made his way rapidly back to 
the Iroquois . On the way he took note of the 


140 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


huge shops, some of them covering as much 
ground as a city block, the great traveling cranes, 
the shifting engines, and all the other vast equip¬ 
ment in the Navy Yard. It was like a city in 
itself, and it made Henry proud to think that he 
was an American. 

Captain Hardwick informed Henry that there 
was some delay about the stores, and that it 
would require several hours at least to transship 
them. The Iroquois could not leave before late 
afternoon, and might not get away before the 
next day. He secured a pass for Henry and 
told him to look at Boston to his heart’s content, 
but to be sure not to get lost. 

“ I’ve heard that it is hard to get around in 
Boston,” agreed Henry. 

“ You’ll get lost, sure,” laughed the captain. 
“ Everybody does.” 

“ Where could I get a map? ” inquired Henry. 
“ I wouldn’t get lost with a map.” 

“You may have mine,” said the commander. 
And he got for Henry a fine little book of maps 
that folded between stiff covers. One of these 
maps was of Boston. 

On his way to the gate Henry noticed numer¬ 
ous buildings, like the commissary stores. And 
there was a long row of houses, evidently for the 
use of officers attached to the Navy Yard, with 
the commandant’s house standing conspicuously 


THE CITY OF PAUL REVERE 


141 


near by. The row of houses looked out on a small 
park, with a band stand in it, and Henry thought 
it must be very delightful to be in the park on 
summer evenings and listen to the marine bands. 

Once outside the gate, Henry found it was no 
trick at all to reach Bunker Hill Monument. 
That was just around the corner, as it were, up 
on a bit of high ground. A few minutes’ walk 
brought Henry to it. He found that the monu¬ 
ment stood at the very apex of a considerable 
mound, that was the size of a city block or two, 
and was laid out very pleasingly with lawns and 
walks. Attractive residences faced the monu¬ 
ment on all four sides of the square. Henry 
found a policeman patrolling the grounds, and 
the man seemed very willing to answer questions. 
He showed Henry where the American fortifica¬ 
tions lay, and where the British troops swarmed 
the hill. A stone memorial marked one corner 
of the redoubt. The monument itself, which was 
something more than two hundred feet high, was 
exactly like the Washington Monument, Henry 
learned, for the guide told him that the Wash¬ 
ington Monument had been modeled after it. 

With interest Henry saw where the British 
troops had formed at the foot of Breed’s Hill and 
marched up to the redoubt, only to be hurled 
back twice by the unbearably deadly fire of the 
American marksmen. To be sure, the land was 


142 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


now covered with solid blocks of buildings, but 
Henry tried to picture to himself the field as it 
was in 1775, with long, waving grass and a 
straggling stone wall behind which some of the 
American troops took position. 

His heart was filled with emotion as he left this 
spot, sacred to liberty, and made his way down 
the hill again. His map showed him that he was 
not far from Faneuil Hall. He wanted to see 
that old building almost as much as he had 
wanted to see Bunker Hill. He found his way 
to it, and was much interested in the curious old 
structure. 

The great market house filled an entire small 
block, for, from its birth, Faneuil Hall had 
been primarily a market. Henry walked com¬ 
pletely around it. Dozens of market dealers in 
dozens of stalls offered all sorts of green food¬ 
stuffs for sale. Their wares were temptingly dis¬ 
played along the sidewalk. Celery, onions, 
apples, potatoes, and all the various vegetables 
and green foods that we commonly eat were here 
to be found. When he entered the market house 
itself, he found it divided into two parts, through 
each of which went a long, central aisle, with 
stalls on each side. Meats and poultry were to 
be had here. It made Henry hungry to see the 
countless cuts of beef and veal and mutton. 

A wide stairway led from the sidewalk at one 


THE CITY OF PAUL REVERE 143 

end of the building up to the second floor. 
Henry entered and went up the steep steps. He 
soon found himself in a roomy and convenient 
auditorium, encircled by an elevated gallery. 
The place was interesting, not only because of its 
historic associations, but also because of its 
beautiful old woodwork and mouldings and 
decorations. 

The third floor Henry found to be the quarters 
of one of the Boston troops. The huge floor was 
cleared, so that it could be used for drilling or for 
dancing. Around the walls were hung the like¬ 
nesses of all the men who had been captains 
in this organization, and there were pictures of 
the famous battles in which these troops had 
fought. 

There was so much to see that Henry found 
he could never get over it all, so he decided that 
he would see the famous old North Church, in 
the belfry of which the lanterns were hung to 
notify Paul Revere which way the British would 
journey to Lexington on that famous night in 
’75. Near by was the very house in which Paul 
Revere lived. So Henry, following his map 
closely, hastened through a most bewildering 
labyrinth of streets, and soon found himself in a 
region that was, to all appearances, a part of 
Italy. The narrow, crooked streets were filled 
with Italian children. In doorways sat shawled 


144j 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


Italian women gossiping and sewing. Italian 
shops lined the way. It was interesting and 
novel to Henry. He had never before been in an 
Italian section of an American city. But he had 
little time to look about. He hurried on until he 
came to a little house so unlike any other build¬ 
ing in the block that he did not need his guide¬ 
book to tell him it was the home of Paul Revere. 
It was a curious brown house, with tiny diamond¬ 
shaped panes in the little leaded windows. The 
roof was low, and the second story seemed to be 
hardly more than half a story in height. Henry 
saw that he could gain admission by the payment 
of a small fee, but he thought he scarcely had 
time to examine the house. 

So he went on around a corner or two, and 
presently he found himself standing before the 
old North Church. It was still a sightly struc¬ 
ture, with its shapely spire rising above its plain 
brick walls. An iron fence rose in front of it. 
On the wall was a bronze tablet calling attention 
to the fact that here were hung the lanterns that 
guided Paul Revere. 

When Henry had examined the old church 
from every possible angle, he turned away and 
headed for the Iroquois. At least, he turned 
away from the church. Such curious rambling 
streets he had never seen. He knew well enough 
that he would have been hopelessly lost without 


THE CITY OF PAUL REVERE 145 

the captain’s map. And even with that in his 
hand he was sometimes bothered to know which 
way to go, so poorly were the streets marked. 
Many were the new and interesting things he saw 
on his way back to the Navy Yard. “ I’m 
surely coming back to Boston again some time,” 
he thought. “It is a wonderfully interesting 
place.” And then the idea occurred to him that 
if he succeeded in becoming a Coast Guard man, 
it might be possible for him to visit not only 
Boston, but also many other American cities. 
He was more determined than ever that he would 
persist in his effort until he won the place he 
wanted. Then, too, he could be of some real 
service to this commander he loved, for Henry 
had become very loyal to Captain Hardwick. 
The time when he could be of service to the com¬ 
mander of the Iroquois was a great deal nearer 
than Henry dreamed. Perhaps it was as well 
he did not realize that, or understand the trying 
experiences that lay so close before him. 


CHAPTER X 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 

T T AD Henry but known it, there was no im- 
mediate necessity for his return to the 
Iroquois . Indeed, the Coast Guard cutter not 
only was unable to sail that day, but she did not 
cast off her hawsers until afternoon the day fol¬ 
lowing. Although Henry thus had an unex¬ 
pected half day in Boston, he saw no more of the 
city than he had seen on the preceding day, for 
when he awoke rain was pouring down, a vicious 
east wind was blowing, and the elements were as 
nasty as they well could be. 

Even a complete suit of rubber would hardly 
have kept one dry very long in the slashing, 
blustering blasts that came howling through the 
Navy Yard. The rain drove in horizontal sheets. 
It whipped around corners and under doorways 
and awnings. It roared across open decks. It 
beat against the air-ports. With ever-increasing 
force the gusts came tearing in from the sea. 
Trees bent far over and groaned before their on¬ 
slaught. Flags whipped themselves to ribbons. 
Halyards beat a very devil’s tattoo against their 
146 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


147 


masts, and on the Iroquois the cordage fairly 
shrieked in wild, wailing notes that made Henry 
almost shudder. 

He was glad enough that the Iroquois had 
been unable to get away. Never had the cap¬ 
tain’s cabin seemed half so comfortable and at¬ 
tractive. He told himself that he would be glad 
enough to spend the time there, reading some of 
the interesting books from the captain’s book¬ 
shelf, while waiting for the storm to subside. 

Yet the movement of stores went forward with¬ 
out interruption. Sailors, cased from head to 
foot in sou’westers, oilskins, and rubber boots, 
worked without ceasing in the downpour to finish 
the transshipment. Henry could hear them 
clumping about the deck in their clumsy footgear. 
On the pier trucks rattled and banged. Boxes 
were wheeled aboard and dumped on the deck. 
Men swore and slipped in the wet. Machinery 
rattled. 

While Henry and his host were eating their 
luncheon, the noises suddenly ceased. There were 
a few shouted orders, indistinguishable in the roar 
of the storm, then some banging noises as hatches 
were closed and battened down, and other open¬ 
ings made fast. Soon all was quiet. When the 
luncheon was ended, Henry went up the com¬ 
panionway and peeped out. Things had been 
made tight. Awnings had been removed. Every- 


148 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


thing was lashed fast. The decks were bare. The 
Iroquois was stripped for action. 

Henry could hardly believe that Captain 
Hardwick would leave port in such a storm. He 
knew that storm warnings must be showing all 
along the New England coast, and perhaps the 
entire Atlantic seaboard, but before he could re¬ 
turn to the cabin and ask the captain if he in¬ 
tended to put to sea, he saw the chief electrician 
running aft along the slippery deck. Henry 
threw open the door for him, and the radio man 
dodged in out of the blinding rain. He had a 
message for the captain. 

Henry descended to the cabin with the elec¬ 
trician. Captain Hardwick took the telegraph 
blank from Mr. Sharp and studied it a moment. 

“No orders? ” he asked. 

“ Not yet,” said the electrician. 

The captain sat down at his desk, drew a red- 
bordered telegraph blank from a pigeonhole, and 
wrote. “ Send that,” he directed. 

The radio man struggled out into the storm. 
The captain rose and touched his call-bell. 

“ Rollin,” he said, when his attendant ap¬ 
peared, “ ask Mr. Farley to come to me at once.” 

The commander picked up the telegram and 
handed it to Henry. “ You’ll have a chance to 
see something to-day, Henry,” he said. 

Henry looked at the message in his hands. It 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS H9 

was a cry of distress, an SOS message the radio 
man had picked out of the air: 

“ Steamer Capitol City ashore east 
coast Cape Cod forty-two north, seventy 
west. Pounding badly. Need im¬ 
mediate assistance. ,, 

The chief engineer entered the cabin. “ Start 
your engines at once, Mr. Farley. We just 
caught a distress call. Steamer ashore on the 
east coast of Cape Cod. See that everything is 
ready for a hard run.” 

“ All right, sir,” and the chief engineer hur¬ 
ried forward. 

Soon the ship began to vibrate. The rumbling 
noise of the machinery arose. Yet the Iroquois 
lay quiet in her dock. 

‘ He’s warming her up,” thought Henry. 
“ It’s a good thing, too, for this is going to be 
some struggle. I’ll bet the waves are like 
mountains.” 

The captain rang his call-bell. “ Send Lieu¬ 
tenant Hill to me,” he said. 

The lieutenant came briskly into the cabin. 
The two officers conferred a moment. Henry 
stepped over to the wardroom. Not even the 
doctor was there. Cards and books lay on the 
table in disorder, as they had been dropped at 
news of the wireless. Everybody was at his post, 


150 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


preparing. Henry returned to the cabin. The 
lieutenant was gone. The commander was pull¬ 
ing on his oilskins. 

“ Where can I get a slicker? ” Henry inquired. 

“ Ask Rollin. He will get you one.” 

The captain pulled on his sou’wester, tied the 
strings under his chin, and mounted to the deck. 
Henry rang for Rollin and stated his wish. The 
attendant brought boots, hat, and slicker. 
Henry pulled on a sweater, buttoned his coat up 
tight, and pulled on the waterproofs. 

The gust of wind that struck him as he came 
out of the companionway sent him reeling back 
against that structure. He could hardly catch 
his breath. The driving sheets of rain blinded 
him. He fought his way forward, and entered 
the radio shack. The chief electrician was copy¬ 
ing down a message. It was an order for the 
Iroquois to go to the rescue of the Capitol City . 
But Henry knew that it was not needed. 
Already the Iroquois was prepared to get under 
way. 

Henry took the message to the bridge and 
handed it to the commander. “ Tell Sparks to 
wire that we are leaving Boston to help the 
Capitol City ” shouted the captain. 

Henry carried the message to Mr. Sharp and 
watched him send it. Then he went back to the 
bridge. The rain beat on him as irresistibly as 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


151 


ever, but the weather-cloth offered surprising 
protection from the wind. A sailor slipped the 
hawsers over the posts on the pier. Other sailors 
drew in the hawsers and stowed them away. 
The captain pressed his signal-bell, and the 
Iroquois began to move astern. She backed out 
into the stream and then turned and headed for 
the sea, into the teeth of the driving storm. 

The beating rain obscured the view. Fog 
made the shores almost indistinguishable, for in 
from the sea, blown on the breath of the icy 
blasts, came racing great clouds of murky white 
vapor that screened all they touched. The cap¬ 
tain looked grim and inscrutable. His jaw was 
set hard. He stood by the wheel-house, conning 
the ship. At half speed the Iroquois slowly 
nosed her way down the channel. Wiped from 
view was the beautiful scene that had so delighted 
Henry a few short hours before. Nothing could 
be seen but occasional glimpses of shore, the 
tumultuous, muddy water, and the driving cur¬ 
tains of fog. 

One by one the captain made the proper turns 
in the tortuous channel. As the Iroquois stood 
farther and farther out toward the sea, the waters 
became ever more tumultuous, the winds roared 
more fiercely, and the fog shut in ever denser. 
Fathom by fathom the ship crept past one after 
another of the island defenses along the way, that 


152 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


served as breakwaters to the sea and broke the 
sweep of the winds. When at last the little ship 
turned eastward at George’s Island, and faced 
the storm with the last vestige of protection gone, 
she trembled and shook in the grasp of the roar¬ 
ing blasts. 

A smother of foam was the sea. Waves rose 
and broke in incredible confusion. The waters 
were churned as by a giant hand. The racing 
winds whipped the crests from the combers and 
flung them forward in sheets of blinding spray. 
Fog drove onward in clouds, now completely 
hiding the sea, now lifting momentarily, to ex¬ 
pose the wild waste of tossing waters. The fury 
of the storm was indescribable. 

Mountain high indeed seemed the waves. Be¬ 
fore the bow of the Iroquois they rose up, up, up, 
as high as the men on the bridge, then rushed 
savagely at the little boat, seemingly bent on her 
destruction. Down they crashed, and the nose 
of the cutter was buried in a smother of foaming 
water. Sometimes the crests swept completely 
over the bow, pouring over the forward deck in 
great floods that raced aft and went foaming out 
of the scuppers. Now Henry saw why the decks 
had been cleared of all movable objects. Indeed, 
as he watched the smashing combers crash over 
the bow, he feared that the big guns themselves 
would be torn from their foundations on the iron 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


153 


deck-plates and hurled aft against the wheel- 
house. With blanched face he stood on the 
bridge, desperately gripping the rail, and peer¬ 
ing with fascinated gaze at the snarling, hungry 
seas. 

Meantime the captain had sent a reassuring 
message to the Capitol City , telling her the 
Iroquois was on her way to assist her. And 
when the ship was fairly in the sea, past all chance 
of harm by rock or shoal, the captain left the 
lieutenant in charge of the bridge and went him¬ 
self to the chart-room to plan his coming move¬ 
ments. With him went Henry. He had seen 
enough of the sea for a time. Some of the fear 
that first gripped his soul had gone. He knew 
that the Iroquois was safe so long as she held her 
course, but he wanted to shut out for a time the 
sight of those terrifying billows; so he staggered 
to the chart-room, and stepped inside, glad of a 
relief from the terrible tension that had held him. 

The captain was calmly poring over his charts 
and guide-books. “ Forty-two north, seventy 
west,” he muttered, sweeping his glance over an 
outstretched map. He placed his pencil on the 
indicated spot. “ She’s on the shoals almost 
dead east of Truro,” he said to Henry. 

Then he turned to a Coast Guard directory 
and leafed it over. “Thank God!” he cried. 
“ There’s a Coast Guard land station near by. 


154 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


It may be two or three miles distant, but they’ll 
come with their outfit. They must have gotten 
the wireless flash just as we did. It’s likely 
they’re on their way now. What a fight that will 
be—those miles across the sand with their heavy 
boats in this wind. They’ll do it, though. But 
maybe we can get to the Capitol City before she 
breaks up. I wish we dared go faster.” 

He stepped out on the bridge and conferred 
with the lieutenant. “ Do you think that we 
dare drive her any faster? ” he shouted in the 
latter’s ear. 

The lieutenant shook his head dubiously. 
“ Well, we’ll try it,” said the commander. 

And he stepped into the wheel-house and 
signaled for more speed. The response was 
terrifying. Under increased power the Iroquois 
drove ahead, bit by bit gaining greater momen¬ 
tum. Savagely she charged into the seas. 
Wildly the waves leaped to meet her. The im¬ 
pact grew ever more terrific. Soon a huge 
mountain of water came roaring down on the 
little cutter. Up it rose and up and up, while 
the cutter charged to meet it, and as it broke and 
crashed forward, the cutter dived completely 
under it. The shock was terrific. Tons of water 
crashed down on the deck, then went racing aft 
against the superstructure. The Iroquois seemed 
to stop in her tracks. She trembled from stem 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


155 


to stern. She shook and quivered. The great 
wave went roaring aft, twisting and tearing at 
the ship. A section of the rail carried away, and 
went pounding astern. The tumult was terrify¬ 
ing. Henry, in the chart-room, thought the ship 
was breaking to pieces. With blanched face and 
set teeth he clung to the side of the room, not 
knowing what to do. He was reassured when 
the captain calmly stepped inside the wheel-house 
and signaled for the engineer to lessen speed. 

Hour after hour they wallowed through the 
storm. Unflinching, undaunted, in complete 
mastery of ship and crew, the captain stood on 
the bridge, with his right-hand man. Mile by 
mile, league after league, he fought his way east¬ 
ward. The rain ceased, but the winds blew on, 
lashing the seas to fiercer and greater fury. The 
sky was totally obscured. Gradually the fog 
lifted, but not for long was the increased vision. 
Darkness came apace, and into that roaring dark¬ 
ness the Iroquois drove with all the power she 
dared to use. 

With anxious eyes the captain watched the 
logbook. At times he telephoned to the chief 
engineer. Again and again he stepped to the 
wheel-house and looked at the compass. Anon 
he consulted with the lieutenant. He must know 
where he was, in order to get safely round the 
long arm of Cape Cod. Nor did he dare stand 


156 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

too close to shore in his run along the eastward 
coast of the Cape, lest the storm put the Iroquois 
also on the shoals. Dead reckoning alone would 
tell him when to turn, and carefully the com¬ 
mander considered every feature that might in¬ 
dicate his position. 

Darkness had long since shut in, and the 
Iroquois was wallowing through a night as black 
as pitch before the captain altered his course and 
headed south along the outer edge of the Cape. 
Gradually the course of the vessel was shifted. 
To Henry the change was terrifying. No longer 
was the Iroquois breasting the storm. The waves 
took her abeam. From side to side she rolled 
until Henry’s heart stood still with fear. Over 
and over and over she dipped until he was certain 
she would turn upside down. Then slowly she 
righted and swung in the opposite direction. 
And once, when she rolled at an angle of forty 
degrees, Henry almost gasped aloud. It seemed 
like eternity while the ship lay poised almost on 
her beam’s ends, apparently uncertain whether 
to roll on over or come back on her keel. Then 
she slowly righted. 

Meantime the chief electrician had been in 
touch with the stranded ship. From her signals 
he knew that she was not far away. They came 
crackling out of the air sharp and clear. A 
distant glow showed that the guardsmen from 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


157 


the land were already at the scene. At last the 
Capitol City wired that she could see the lights 
of the Iroquois . 

“ Make a flare,” flashed back the Iroquois' 
wireless man. 

And presently, almost dead to leeward of the 
Iroquois, the darkness was torn by a flash, and a 
flaming rocket went streaking up through the 
night. Other rockets followed. Then a flaring 
light arose, and through their glasses the men on 
the bridge of the Iroquois could see the stricken 
ship, lying in a smother of foam on the outer 
edge of the breakers. She was too far from 
shore for the land crew to shoot a line to her, and 
no small boat could live in such a sea. If the 
crew of the Capitol City were to be saved, the 
little cutter alone could save them. 

Cautiously the Iroquois was worked in toward 
the shoals. Then slowly she was turned, the cap¬ 
tain gave the word, and one of the anchors was let 
go. Once more the cutter was heading again 
into the seas, and now, little by little, her anchor- 
chain was paid out, while seamen with hand-lines 
took soundings, calling up to the bridge the depth 
they found. Fathom after fathom the giant 
anchor-chain was paid out. Fathom after 
fathom the Iroquois rode backward toward the 
seething breakers. 

Fascinated, Henry watched the attempt to get 


158 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


within reach of the unfortunate steamer. Grad¬ 
ually the Iroquois drew near to the smother of 
white water. The sea was shoaling fast and the 
tide was running out, but the captain kept on in 
the hope that he could get near enough to shoot 
a line aboard the Capitol City. His shells, and 
the shot line, loosely wound in the faking box so 
that it would run out freely, were ready for in¬ 
stant use. All that was necessary was to remove 
the canvas cover from the little gun on the after 
rail, insert the charge, and shoot. But the 
Iroquois never came within shooting distance. 
Too rapidly the water shoaled, and at last, re¬ 
luctantly, the commander gave the word and the 
anchor-chain was held taut. The Iroquois was 
rolling, head to the sea, at the very edge of the 
breakers, but she was too far away from the 
Capitol City to put a shot across her. 

“Tell them we’ll float a line down to them, and 
for them to be on the lookout for it,” the captain 
ordered the wireless man. 

The latter sat down at his key, but a moment 
later switched off. The Capitol City's wireless 
was failing. He shifted to the blinkers, and for 
the first time Henry had opportunity to see the 
lights on the yardarm flash and blink. From the 
Capitol City came answering winks from aloft. 

“ They’re looking for our line,” the wireless 
man informed the captain. 


A Coast Guard Cutter Standing by a Stranded Ocean Liner 





Aw 

















A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


159 


Meantime empty kegs had been prepared. A 
light line was made fast to one of them, and it 
was thrown into the sea. Rapidly it floated to 
leeward, and as fast as the sea carried it shore¬ 
ward the line was paid out. The searchlight of 
the Iroquois was broken out and its beam kept 
on the floating keg. Slowly this bore down on 
the Capitol City, but it was too far to one side for 
that ship to get it. The line was hauled in, and 
again it was floated toward the helpless ship. 
This time a sailor hurled the keg far to one side 
of the Iroquois , in the hope that it might now 
come close enough to the stranded ship to be 
caught. But again the attempt failed. The 
ebb tide, with its cross current, carried it farther 
away from the Capitol City than it had been be¬ 
fore. 

“ Lower the surfboat,” ordered the com¬ 
mander, when he saw the attempt was useless. 
Then he called for volunteers. By the dozen the 
sailors leaped forward. 

“ Boatswain Johnson,” said the captain, “ I’m 
going to put you in charge. Pick your crew.” 

The boatswain selected eight sturdy sailors for 
oarsmen. A life belt was strapped round each. 
The boat was lowered to the rail, and the crew 
stepped carefully aboard. At a favorable 
moment the craft was launched. Quickly she 
shot away from the side of the Iroquois , and be- 


160 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

fore another comber broke, she was at a safe dis¬ 
tance from the cutter and heading straight into 
the breakers. 

The ship’s light was trained on her. On she 
went, now up, now down, breasting the roaring 
waves, shooting through the smother of foam, 
riding safely where it seemed impossible for a 
boat to live, under the skillful guidance of the 
experienced boatswain. Swiftly she drew to¬ 
ward the Capitol City, which no longer lay at 
right angles to the beach, but had worked a little 
to one side, making a lee where the water was 
calmer. Toward this the boatswain drove the 
surf boat. Into it the little craft shot safely, 
while a sigh of relief went up from the deck of 
the Iroquois. 

Through powerful glasses, Henry watched 
breathlessly while the surfboat drew close to the 
protected side of the Capitol City . A line was 
thrown to the little boat, and a sailor in the bow 
caught it. Then the surfboat was drawn close 
beside the stranded steamer, and a sailor 
scrambled down from the rigging and dropped 
into it. 

From seaward a giant comber was rushing 
toward the tiny craft. If it caught her, it would 
crush her against the side of the larger ship as 
an eggshell is crushed underfoot. On the 
Iroquois not a soul breathed. The onlookers 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


161 


stood tense, waiting the outcome. But the boat¬ 
swain had an eye for everything. He, too, saw 
the great comber approaching. Back from the 
steamer’s side drew the little boat, and the wave 
passed harmlessly by. Again the surfboat drew 
up to the side of the Capitol City , and another 
man detached himself from the rigging and 
dropped into it. But just at that moment a 
wave, rising apparently from nowhere, swept 
over the windward side of the stranded steamer, 
poured irresistibly across her deck, and sent its 
tons of icy water crashing downward into the 
little surfboat lying by the leeward rail. The 
tiny craft was swept from sight. 

“My God!” cried the captain. “They’ve 
capsized! ” 


CHAPTER XI 


LOST IN THE SEA 

T?OR a moment the crew of the Iroquois stood 
as though petrified. In the brilliant beam 
of the searchlight they could see the dark 
forms of their comrades as they bobbed up above 
the smother of foam. Down from the bridge 
and the rigging of the Capitol City, where the 
members of her crew had taken refuge from the 
sweeping waves, these men now came leaping 
fearlessly. To rope and life-buoy they ran, and, 
seizing them, hurled them far out into the waves 
toward the struggling men from the Iroquois . 
But the strong cross-current that had borne the 
floating keg so far to one side of the stranded 
ship, now carried the struggling men rapidly 
away from the steamer and the floating buoys. 
Desperately the men fought to reach the Capitol 
City, but the rushing tide beat them back, sucked 
them farther and farther away from the ship, 
and dragged them out toward the deeper water. 

Not long did the men on the Iroquois remain 
idly watching their comrades, helpless in the surf. 
One instant alone they stood as though par¬ 
alyzed. Then, as the captain began to bark his 
162 


LOST IN THE SEA 


163 


terse commands, they leaped to action. In an 
instant the anchor-chain was released, and as it 
paid out the Iroquois began to move. Driven 
by wind and wave, she bore farther into the 
breakers. A seaman with the lead sounded and 
roared out the depths. Rapidly the water 
shoaled, but the captain let the Iroquois drive on. 
He meant to save his men if it were humanly 
possible. Rapidly the tide was sweeping them 
outward. The wind w T as pushing the cutter in¬ 
ward. Every second brought the struggling 
men nearer to their comrades, who waited with 
ropes and buoys, at the rail of the Iroquois . 

Of a sudden the Iroquois was jarred from 
stem to stern. Again and again, as she rolled in 
the waves, came that pounding, jarring sensation. 
She had struck bottom. She was on the shoals. 
The captain signaled for full speed ahead, and 
shouted an order to the men at the anchor-chain. 
The propeller began to revolve slowly, then 
faster, then at full speed. The engine on the 
forward deck began to heave in the anchor-chain. 
The Iroquois seemed to pause and gather herself 
for a leap. Almost imperceptibly at first, then 
faster, and then with a rush, she moved through 
the water. An oncoming comber, towering 
toward the skies, met her bow on, and again the 
little cutter plunged headlong under water. A 
warning cry went up. The men on deck grasped 


164 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


rope and rail and clung with all their might. 
The great wave went sweeping aft like an aveng¬ 
ing fury, but not a man was swept away. In¬ 
stantly the captain signaled to lessen speed. 
The Iroquois forged ahead more slowly, the 
leadsman sounding continually and shouting the 
depth to the commander on the bridge. Soon 
the cutter rode at a safe depth. The engines 
were stopped, the anchor-chain was made fast, 
and once more the Iroquois rode safe at the edge 
of the breakers. 

All the while the resistless tide was sweeping 
the struggling men in the breakers out toward the 
Iroquois . One by one they were now borne past 
the ship, struggling desperately to reach her side. 
With trembling hands eager comrades flung 
ropes and buoys. All fell short. One man 
alone came close, bravely fighting his way to the 
starboard side of the cutter. A sailor climbed 
over the rail and down a ladder, leaned down, 
and snatched his struggling comrade as the latter 
shot upward on the crest of a wave. At that 
instant the ship lurched violently to port, the 
sailor’s grasp was broken, his comrade was torn 
from his grip, and the poor fellow was sucked 
away by a wave, and, struggling desperately, 
was borne out to sea. All about the Iroquois 
men were fighting with the waves. In despera¬ 
tion their comrades watched them. 


LOST IN THE SEA 


165 


To launch a boat seemed not humanly possible. 
No little craft could live in such a sea. But the 
captain called for volunteers, and as one man the 
crew sprang forward. 

“ Lower away the leeward lifeboat,” roared 
the captain. 

Eager hands unbent the gripes, the falls were 
loosened, and the lifeboat dropped level with the 
rail. Into her leaped the chosen crew, with the 
executive officer in command. Down went the 
boat. For a moment it rode the waves in safety, 
and pulled out toward the struggling men in the 
sea. It had almost reached the nearest when a 
swirling comber rose beside it, towered a second 
above it, and then came crashing down on it, 
burying men and boat under tons of yeasty 
water. 

For a moment, boat and men were completely 
lost to sight. Far down beneath the swirling 
seas the ill-fated crew of the lifeboat had been 
thrust by the towering comber. The moving 
searchlight showed no human form among the 
savage seas. Then suddenly the sea was full 
of struggling men. Some fought their way 
to the overturned boats and clung to them. 
Those whose grips had loosened were seized by 
their comrades and dragged back to the pitiful 
security of a hold on a floating boat. Some 
could not gain even this slender assistance. 


166 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


At this instant the tide turned. Far to sea¬ 
ward the men from that first ill-fated boat had 
now been swept, out into the blackness of the 
night, past the possibility of assistance. But the 
struggling crew of the other boat were now 
borne slowly shoreward. Now wave and wind 
combined to wash them toward the distant sands. 
It did not seem possible that they could safely 
pass through that seething caldron. With in¬ 
credible fury the waves beat down upon them. 
Like chips in a mill race they were tossed help¬ 
lessly this way and that. But every man of 
them wore a life belt, and despite the buffeting 
of the seas all remained afloat and alive. Bravely 
they continued to fight for their lives. 

Two boats had been swamped. Two crews 
were battling for life in the waves, and one was 
irrevocably lost. But men still pressed forward 
and begged to be allowed to try again. No boat 
could live in such an awful sea, yet the men of 
the Iroquois pleaded for a chance, a last chance, 
to save their comrades. The captain ordered 
one more boat lowered. Like its predecessors, it 
lived but a few minutes in the awful sea. 

Three boats had now been capsized, and three 
crews were struggling in the sea. Many were 
clinging to the overturned boats, while others had 
gained some of the buoys thrown to the crew of 
the first overturned boat. Numbers were swim- 


LOST IN THE SEA 


167 


ming unaided. The sea was full of boats and 
floating men. Impotent, heartsick, torn with 
anguish, the men remaining on the Iroquois stood 
watching the awful sight. They had done their 
best. They had done all that human beings 
could possibly do, but it was not enough. There 
was nothing else they could do but pray, and 
many an agonized seaman, rough as a barnacle, 
stood with tears streaming down his rugged face 
and prayed for his comrades struggling for their 
lives in that awful sea. 

Perhaps those prayers were heard. With 
every minute the incoming tide ran stronger, 
washing the struggling men toward shore, where 
now were burning the welcome beacons of the 
crews from landward Coast Guard stations. 
Again and again they tried to launch their surf- 
boats, and as often were beaten back. Now they 
stood at the edge of the waves, waiting to assist 
their comrades from the ship. 

Ceaselessly the searchlight of the Iroquois 
played upon the breakers, and on her bridge 
officers stood with glasses and watched the awful 
fight. Miraculously the struggling men drove 
steadily toward the shore. Soon they were in 
shallow water. They touched bottom. And 
now, fighting their way upward on the sand, they 
struggled through the breakers. Again and 
again inward-rushing waves beat them down, but 


168 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

always they were flung forward, tossed land¬ 
ward, driven farther toward the sandy beach and 
safety. The flaming fires before them heartened 
them, encouraged them. New strength came to 
them, and singly, in pairs, and even in little 
groups, they battled their way onward. The 
strong helped the weak, and one or two were seen 
dragging comrades who were wholly helpless. 
Out into the breakers rushed the waiting guards 
from the shore. Strong arms were thrown 
around weak and fainting forms, and limp bodies 
were carried bodily through the waves. Again 
and again the sturdy guardsmen from the shore 
rushed back into the waves and aided more men 
ashore, while others toiled to resuscitate the few 
who had all but succumbed. 

Around the fires now pressed the rescued sea¬ 
men, increasing in number as man after man 
gained the sands, until they formed a great ring 
about the flames. Their numbers brought joy 
to the watchers on the Iroquois. Now the res¬ 
cued men were seen to be leaving the fire and 
trooping off into the darkness. 

The commander was talking to the quarter¬ 
master, who had been kept at his post during all 
the struggle. “We must be a little farther along 
the coast than I thought,” said the captain. 
“ They must be taking our men to a Coast Guard 


LOST IN THE SEA 


169 


station. Tell Sparks to get in touch with the 
station and find how many men were saved.” 

The quartermaster climbed down the ladder 
and made his way to the radio shack. Young 
Belford was on duty. “ Where is Mr. Sharp? ” 
demanded the quartermaster. 

“ Gone,” said the young wireless man, and 
there were tears in his eyes. 

“ Gone! You don’t mean he went in a boat? ” 

The radio man nodded. For a moment he 
could not speak, then he managed to say, “ I saw 
him leap into the last boat.” And a great sob 
broke from him. 

“ He may be safe,” said the quartermaster. 
“ Most of the men got ashore. We could see 
them with the glasses.” 

“ Oh, I hope so! ” cried the lad. 

The quartermaster ran up on the bridge again. 
“ The chief radio man is gone,” he said. “ He 
pulled an oar in the last boat.” 

“ Find young Harper,” said the captain. 

“ I saw him on deck helping the sailors.” 

“ Send him to me.” 

When the quartermaster had summoned 
Henry, the commander said to him, his voice 
quivering with emotion, “ Lad, Mr. Sharp is 
gone. He was in the last boat. Are you sure 
you can operate our wireless? We need it now 
as we never needed it before.” 


170 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

“ I can,” said Henry quietly. 

“Then try to get in touch with this land 
station. I don’t know which one it is. I thought 
that we were opposite Truro. We’re somewhere 
in that neighborhood. Find which station it is, 
and ask how many men got ashore.” 

“ But what about Belford? ” asked Henry. 
“ He’s the regular assistant. Oughtn’t he to do 
it?” 

The captain glared angrily at Henry. Then 
he comprehended what was in the boy’s mind. 
“ Send Belford to me,” he said. “ It’s no time 
for etiquette now. I want action.” 

“ You shall have it,” said Henry, and he 
hastened to the radio shack. 

“ Belford,” he said, as he closed the door to 
shut out the howl of the wind, “ the captain has 
asked me to send a message. He wants you to 
report to the bridge.” 

Henry sat down at the desk, hastily searched 
through the list of Coast Guard station calls, and 
began combing the air with the wireless to carry 
out the captain’s wishes. Meantime young Bel¬ 
ford mounted to the bridge and stood before his 
commander. 

“ Young man,” said the captain, “ Mr. Harper 
is going to take charge of the wireless. He’s a 
former government operator and has had much 
experience. I am sorry to go over your head, 


LOST IN THE SEA 


171 


but we must all do our best. It’s a trying time.” 

“ I will help all I can,” said the assistant oper¬ 
ator loyally. 

“ Very good,” said the commander. “ Go 
back to the wireless house. Tell Mr. Harper to 
come to me the instant he gets word from shore.” 

“ Yes, sir,” said the radio man, and he hurried 
back to his post. 

Meantime Henry had been flashing abroad call 
after call. He had just got his station when 
young Belford came back. A moment more and 
his great question was answered. He turned 
from his key, his face aglow. 

“ The captain wants to see you the minute 
you’re done,” said young Belford. 

Henry rose and sought the bridge. “ Captain 
Hardwick,” he cried, “ every man except the 
crew of the first boat is accounted for. They are 
all safe at the station.” 

“ Thank God! ” cried the commander. For a 
moment he could not speak. Then, in husky 
tones, he said, “ Henry, I’ve told young Belford 
that you are in charge of the radio. Don’t feel 
any hesitation about taking charge. There is 
now a vacancy in our radio staff. You are 
regularly appointed to the vacancy and detailed 
to act as chief.” 


CHAPTER XII 


THE RESCUE 

Under other circumstances the captain’s words 
would have caused Henry to shout with joy. 
Now there was no sense of jubilation in his heart. 
He was stunned by the awful catastrophe that 
had occurred. Nine men that he had been liv¬ 
ing with, and had come to like, had suddenly 
been wiped out of existence. The horror of it 
had laid hold upon every soul on the Iroquois . 
Perhaps it was fortunate for those still left on 
the ship that there was so much to be done. There 
was no time for brooding, or mourning for lost 
comrades. The roar of the storm in the darkness 
was terrifying. The winds still were shrieking 
through the cordage. Enormous waves were 
sweeping down on the sturdy little cutter, threat¬ 
ening to overwhelm her. Only a bit of iron, a 
length of chain, stood between the Iroquois and 
a fate like that of the Capitol City; and a chain 
is no stronger than its weakest link. There might 
be a weak link in the chain of the Iroquois . Her 
work must be ended and the little ship taken out 
of danger as quickly as possible. Every soul on 
board felt this distinctly. Perhaps no one felt 
1*72 


THE RESCUE 


173 


it more strongly than Henry did. The unac¬ 
customed violence of the sea appalled him. So 
the office that had come to him so suddenly did 
not for a moment seem to him to be a matter of 
personal advancement. It was a call to duty. 
It was his chance to help forward the work the 
Iroquois had set out to do. 

Very sober was Henry as he reentered the 
radio shack. “ Belford,” he said, “ the captain 
thinks my experience as an operator will make 
me useful on the Iroquois until Mr. Sharp can 
get aboard again. He has asked me to take 
charge of the wireless room. I did not want to 
do it, for you should be in charge. But the cap¬ 
tain has asked me to help, and all I can do is to 
obey. You’ll help me, won’t you, Belford? 
You’ll pull with us, won’t you? We’ve got to 
work together and do our best or we may never 
get out of this situation.” 

“ Of course, I’ll help you. Don’t give the mat¬ 
ter another thought. I’ll help you just as loyally 
as I would help Mr. Sharp,” and the lad held out 
his hand. 

“ Thank you, Belford,” said Henry, grasping 
his hand. “ The wireless will mean a lot to the 
Iroquois in the next twenty-four hours. We’ll 
both stand by the captain to the finish.” Then 
he added: “Where’s Black? I want to talk to 
him, too.” 


174 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


“ I wonder where he is,” said Belford. “ I 
can’t remember seeing him for several hours past. 
Mr. Sharp was on watch the first four hours 
after we left Boston, and I stood watch the next 
four. Black ought to be on duty now. But 
there’s been so much excitement I never thought 
about whose watch it was.” 

“ You don’t suppose he went in one of the 
boats, do you? ” asked Henry. 

“ No, I don’t,” said Belford. “ And yet he 
might. I’ll see.” 

He went to the stateroom. Soon he re¬ 
appeared with a peculiar expression on his face. 
“ He’s in bed,” he said, “ and has been abed all 
the while we’ve been trying to save the Capitol 
City” 

The two young operators looked at each other. 
The same sickening suspicion was in the mind of 
each. But both hesitated to put it into words. 

At that moment the quartermaster entered the 
room. “ The captain wants you to talk to the 
Capitol City ” he said, “ and find out how fast she 
is taking water, and how deep it is where she 
lies.” 

“ You do that,” said Henry to his companion. 
“ You’ve had lots of experience with the blinkers. 
I haven’t had any.” 

Young Belford set the blinkers to winking 
merrily. The response was immediate. Colored 


THE RESCUE 


175 


lights began to flash aloft on the Capitol City's 
yardarm. That vessel was resting easily on the 
sands, came the answer, and was taking in water 
no faster than her pumps could pump it out 
again. The tide was rising rapidly. It was 
already six feet deep. This news the assistant 
operator carried to the commander. 

“ We’ll save her yet,” said the captain. “ This 
tide is going to be a very high one, if I am any 
judge. The wind’s been blowing the water 
shoreward now a full twenty-four hours.” 

Rapidly the water rose. As the captain had 
said, the wind had been blowing it shoreward for 
a full day. The ebb tide had shown what the 
wind could do, for the water was far higher than 
usual when the tide turned to flood. Wind and 
wave both pressed the flood landward, and now 
the tide, running in with the wind, mounted and 
mounted until it was evident that the captain’s 
hope was to be realized. As the tide rose and 
the water about the cutter deepened, Captain 
Hardwick put a leadsman to sounding. 

“We must work in with the tide, Lieutenant,” 
he said to his assistant on the bridge, “ and be 
ready for action the instant the tide is at flood. 
It won’t wait a second for us, though, if this wind 
holds, it will delay the ebb. We must not lose a 
moment.” 

Long before the tide was full, Captain Hard- 


176 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


wick ordered the anchor-chain released. At once 
the cutter began to move toward the beach, very 
slowly at first, then faster and faster as wind and 
wave gave her momentum. The lead was kept 
going incessantly, the leadsman shouting the 
depths up to the bridge as he made his soundings. 
Foot by foot, fathom by fathom, the Iroquois 
drew nearer the Capitol City. Steadily the cut¬ 
ter’s searchlight played on the disabled ship, its 
brilliant beam boring through the inky dark. 

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, yet none the less 
truly, the wind abated its violence. Less often 
the great waves swept over the deck of the 
stranded steamship. Not so shrill was the 
screeching of the Iroquois’ cordage. The cap¬ 
tain, with his wide experience, had evidently fore¬ 
seen a change in the weather. He was evidently 
expecting the wind to fall, and if it did, it would 
help in the effort to float the stranded vessel, for 
a great pressure against the ship would be re¬ 
moved. But as the minutes passed, the wind 
did not become noticeably less. It still howled 
angrily, and swept with fitful force over ship and 
wave. Now it came in gusts, blowing furiously 
for a time, then lulling. But without ceasing 
the tide drove in, and the waves crept further and 
further up the sides of the stranded steamship, 
and the combers crashed ever higher up the sandy 
beach. 


THE RESCUE 


177 


Fathom after fathom the Iroquois followed the 
rising tide shoreward. When the lead showed 
questionable depths, the anchor-chain was made 
fast, and the little cutter paused for a while in 
her progress, marking time, as it were, to the 
music of the storm. With unwonted rapidity the 
tide mounted up, and Captain Hardwick fol¬ 
lowed it as fast and as far as he dared. 

Plainly there was a good chance to save the 
Capitol City . As the two ships came closer, 
every detail of the stranded ship was visible. 
She had suffered astonishingly little, when the 
violence of the storm was considered. She lay 
almost on an even keel. Though not pointing 
directly to the waves, the stern was so nearly in 
line with them that they were parted as they 
reached her, sweeping past with little damage to 
her hull. A section of her taffrail was gone, and 
a part of her rudder was broken off. Other¬ 
wise she appeared to have suffered little, and the 
success of the pumps in keeping down the water 
in the hold showed that even her plates had not 
been badly started. Her superstructure had 
suffered little. One of her small boats had been 
washed away, but otherwise she seemed to the 
watchers on the Iroquois to be in remarkably 
good condition. 

What was more important, her crew was 
intact. Huddled high on the bridge and in the 


178 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


rigging, they had crouched together while the 
men from the Iroquois were trying to reach them. 
But as the tide ran low, those in the rigging had 
climbed down and mounted to the bridge and 
superstructure, seeking warmth, for the piercing 
winds had well-nigh frozen them as they clung 
to the rattling stays. Apparently not a man had 
been swept from the Capitol City . Almost the 
full crew was there to work the ship, and Captain 
Hardwick was glad, indeed, that there was no 
such shortage of hands on the Capitol City as 
existed on the Iroquois. There would be work 
for many hands when the time was ripe for the 
effort he had in mind. 

At last the Iroquois came within reach of her 
stranded sister. Now a line could easily be fired 
across the helpless vessel. Ready was the faking- 
box with the shot-line faked neatly on the tall 
spindles within it, ready to run out smoothly as 
it traveled through the air on its momentous 
journey. The little brass gun on the after-rail 
of the Iroquois was uncovered, a charge was in¬ 
serted in it, its Camden projectile, with shot-line 
bent fast, projected from the muzzle of the 
little gun, and all was ready for the effort. The 
captain himself sighted the little gun, for the 
gunner, alas! had been in the Iroquois' surfboat. 
A moment the commander waited, until the cut¬ 
ter rode on an even keel. 


THE RESCUE 


179 


“ Fire,” he called. 

There was a loud explosion, the night was 
stabbed with a sheet of flame, and the projectile 
went hurtling out and up, tearing its way across 
the hundreds of yards of raging sea that still 
separated the two ships. For an instant those 
on board the Iroquois were blinded by the flash 
of their gun. Then they tried to trace, in the 
glare of the searchlight, the flight of the shot-line. 
Straight and true it winged its way toward the 
stranded ship. Then a rush of scurrying forms 
on the Capitol City told the watchers on the 
Iroquois that the shot had carried true. In a 
moment more the crew of the Capitol City were 
hauling in the little shot-line. 

Already a heavier line had been bent to the 
end of the light shot-line, but first it had been 
passed out through one of the quarter chocks. 
Steadily the crew of the Capitol City drew this 
heavier line aboard their craft. This in turn was 
followed by a heavy hawser. But Captain 
Hardwick had no intention of risking defeat 
through the use of so uncertain a towing line as 
a manila hawser. He meant to make fast to the 
Capitol City with a wire cable. To that end 
young Belford had been busy with the blinkers, 
and the flashing lights of the Capitol City’s 
yardarm had answered back. Captain Hard¬ 
wick had apprised his fellow-commander of his 


180 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


intention, and warned him of the necessity of 
heaving the heavy wire cable an inch at a time, as 
it was paid out cautiously by the Iroquois . No 
buoyancy had this line, like a manila hawser. 
Like a plummet it would drop to the bottom of 
the sea, and once it started to run, out it would 
go its full length. 

Steadily the rope hawser was paid out, and 
steadily it was pulled aboard the Capitol City. 
Then the end of the wire cable, bent to the 
hawser, was lowered, and foot by foot, with a 
caution hardly credible, the handful of men on 
the Iroquois responded to the tug on the line and 
let the wire cable slide through the quarter chock. 
At the same time Captain Hardwick drifted the 
Iroquois closer and closer to the vessel on the 
shoals. 

At last the steel cable was aboard the Capitol 
City, and safe about her bitts. The other end 
was now made fast to the bitts of the Iroquois . 
The great, unbreakable, steel cable now stretched 
from ship to ship. With all the power at her 
command, the little cutter would presently strain 
at this line. At this same time she would heave 
in her anchor-chain, and the vast length of this 
enormous chain, reaching hundreds of fathoms 
out into the ocean, and weighing tons upon tons, 
would add to the anchor a gripping force that 
would hold like the rock of Gibraltar. Like a 


THE RESCUE 


181 


man pulling himself up a rope, arm over arm, the 
little cutter would heave itself along the length of 
this anchor-chain with the full power of both its 
propeller and its heaving engine, and behind it 
would come the Capitol City —perhaps. 

Time alone would tell. And now all was 
ready. Steam was up on both ships, ready for 
the supreme effort. It remained only for the 
tide to reach flood, but how slowly it now seemed 
to advance. Up and up it rose, creeping higher 
and higher up the sides of the stranded ship, the 
lacy edges of the waves foaming ever higher on 
the sandy beach. Anxiously the captain kept his 
watch. Now, with careful eye, he studied the 
heavens. Now he bent his gaze upon the tumul¬ 
tuous sea. Now he went forward, and with his 
own hands examined the anchor-chain and looked 
at all its mechanism for heaving. Again he went 
aft and studied the arrangement of the hawser, 
appraising with practised eye the lay of the two 
vessels, the sweep of the waves, the movement of 
the tide. 

High indeed this was, and as the water mounted 
ever higher on the Capitol City's side, and the 
leadsman found more and more depth beneath 
the Iroquois, the captain’s face showed ever¬ 
growing confidence. From time to time he 
talked with the master of the Capitol City, with 
young Belford as his intermediary. Anon he 


182 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


studied the skies and noted with satisfaction the 
steady abatement of the wind. As the time drew 
near for the tide to be at flood, the eager com¬ 
mander paced the deck, impatient for the trial. 
Yet with eagle eye he watched the tide. At last 
the critical moment arrived. The commander’s 
judgment told him it was time to be moving. 
The tide was not yet quite at flood, but it was 
high, extremely high. It would not mount much 
higher. When it turned, the very volume of it 
would cause it to run out fast. 

Briskly he mounted to the bridge. “ Tell the 
Capitol City we’re going to move,” he called to 
the radio man. “Tell the captain to put on full 
speed astern.” 

Above, the blinker lights flashed forth their 
calls, and promptly from the Capitol City came 
answering flashes. The ship would turn on her 
power. Meantime the indicator in the engine 
room of the Iroquois communicated its message 
to the men at the engines. The propeller began 
to move, slowly at first, then faster, then at full 
speed. Forward, the heaving engine began to 
strain at the anchor-cable. The little cutter 
trembled and shook with the effort. Loud 
rumbled the churning machinery in her hold. 

Minute followed minute. The little craft 
strained and pulled. She rose and fell in the sea. 
Her propeller churned the waters into yeasty 


THE RESCUE 


183 


foam. Link by link the anchor-chain was heaved 
in. Foot by foot the Iroquois crept ahead,, but 
she was only making the wire cable taut. The 
Capitol City had not budged. Glasses to eyes, 
the captain studied the great steamer as her pro¬ 
peller drove round and round in the swirling 
water. Critically he watched the waves sweep 
past her sides, for continually the glaring light 
of the Iroquois was focused on the helpless 
steamer. Still the tide rose higher, though now 
but slowly. Every inch counted now. A few 
more inches and the vessel on the sands ought 
almost to float of herself. 

On deck the sailors watched the tide with 
anxious eyes. Well they knew what a little more 
water would mean to the success of their efforts. 
From time to time they dropped bits of wood 
over the sides, to see whether the tide was still 
carrying toward the shore. Anon they studied 
the wire cable now stretched tighter than a fiddle¬ 
string. The tide continued to rise, though 
now almost imperceptibly. Then it hesitated, 
halted, and stood still. It was at flood. With 
every ounce of power they possessed the two 
steamships strained and struggled. The tide 
paused, as though to give them ample oppor¬ 
tunity. Then, almost imperceptibly, it turned 
and began to flow out toward the sea. And at 
that instant the lights on the Capitol City flashed 


184 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


forth, and a moment later young Belford came 
racing up to the bridge with a message for the 
captain. 

“ The Capitol City is moving,” he said. Then 
he turned and raced back to his post. 

A shout went up as the sailors sensed the im¬ 
port of his message. Every eye was focused on 
the stranded steamer. For a moment no motion 
was discernible in her. Then plainly she could 
be seen to move. The shout was followed by a 
cheer, for now the big steamer was plainly 
ploughing through the waves. Little by little 
she gained momentum. Moment by moment the 
Iroquois drove ahead faster. But it was no easy 
task that faced her. No tractable tow was this 
behind her. With broken rudder, and advancing 
stern foremost, the Capitol City yawed badly. 
Nevertheless, she came on behind the Iroquois, 
as the latter forged ahead, heaving in her anchor- 
chain fathom after fathom, and fighting her way 
out to the depths. 

By the time the anchor was heaved aboard, the 
wind had lessened markedly. No longer was it 
blowing from the east. It was shifting, working 
around to the north. The tide now was running 
out strong. There was no danger that either 
wind or tide would carry the rescued vessel back 
to the shoals again. When the captain of the 
Iroquois judged it to be safe, he stopped the 


THE RESCUE 


185 


cutter. With great care the crew of the Capitol 
City shifted the towing cable from stern to bow, 
and made it fast to the forward bitts. When this 
was done, the Iroquois pointed her nose into the 
wind, gradually got under way, and with the dis¬ 
abled steamer behind her, headed once more for 
the city of Paul Revere. It was the nearest 
harbor in which the crippled vessel could find ref¬ 
uge. 


CHAPTER XIII 


HENRY FINDS HE HAS AN ENEMY 

Q LOWLY the staunch little cutter steamed 
^ ahead. Had it not been for the broken rud¬ 
der, the Capitol City could have gone on her way, 
unattended, as she was little damaged. But with 
her rudder injured, she was in a bad way. 
Although it was not entirely gone, and it helped 
somewhat in guiding the ship, still at times the 
huge craft yawed badly. By paying out more 
cable Captain Hardwick partly overcame this 
tendency to yaw. Nevertheless it was difficult 
enough to make headway, for the wind had now 
whipped around almost to the north, and for a 
time the two ships had to sail into the teeth of it. 
The Capitol City could not use the full power 
of her engines, but she kept her propeller turn¬ 
ing, and this greatly lessened the burden on the 
cutter. Unless some unforeseen difficulty should 
arise, the two vessels would have no trouble in 
reaching their port. 

There was much to be done on both ships, how¬ 
ever. The captain of the disabled steamer 
wanted to get in touch with his agents, and in¬ 
form them of the safety of the vessel. His wire¬ 
less was still out of commission, and his messages 
186 


HENRY FINDS HE HAS AN ENEMY 187 


had first to be sent to the Iroquois by blinkers 
and then relayed by wireless. So both Henry 
and his friend Belford were kept busy for a long 
time. Then, too, Henry had to get in touch with’ 
the Coast Guard land station where the men 
from the Iroquois had found shelter, and send in¬ 
structions concerning them. The captain felt 
that he could operate the Iroquois with his little 
force for the short run to Boston and thence to 
New York. His men were willing to do double 
duty. It was necessary for him to get back to 
New York at the earliest possible moment. 
The run to Boston would require only a few 
hours. Then he could retrace his steps immedi¬ 
ately. It was simpler to have the seamen go 
direct to New York and rejoin the Iroquois 
there, than to wait for them in Boston. So 
Henry got in touch with the land station and 
communicated the captain’s orders to that effect. 

By the time the two young wireless men had 
finished their tasks, they were about worn out. 
It was far into the night. Belford had been on 
duty for many hours. Henry, though not on 
duty so long, was almost exhausted by the 
nervous strain under which he had been working. 
Furthermore, he would have to respond, at any 
moment, to any call for wireless communication. 

“ We must get to bed,” he said the moment 
their tasks were done. “ Won’t you please call 


188 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

the other operator? Then we can arrange our 
watches.” 

Belford summoned Black, who came into the 
radio shack, yawning. “ I guess you’ll have to 
stand watch for a while, Black,” said Henry. 
“ Things have got a little mixed up in the wire¬ 
less house, but we’ll get them straightened out 
shortly. Suppose you stay until breakfast. 
That won’t be long. Then we can rearrange our 
watches.” 

“ That isn’t my regular watch,” said the young 
radio man, sullenly. “ And why should you be 
telling me what to do, anyway? That’s up to 
Mr. Sharp.” 

“ But Mr. Sharp isn’t here,” replied Henry. 
“He went in one of the boats. I am working 
with you men. We’ve got to do the best we can 
under the circumstances. We’ll get things 
straightened out soon, and back in their old 
order.” 

“ And do you think I am going to take orders 
from you? ” said the young operator, insolently. 

Henry’s face flushed. An angry light leaped 
to his eyes, and his fist involuntarily clenched. 
But he took a grip on himself, and replied very 
slowly and deliberately: “ It isn’t a question of 
taking orders, Black. The captain has asked me 
to work with you two men, and the three of us 
must pull together until we get the ship safe 


HENRY FINDS HE HAS AN ENEMY 189 


home. Aren’t you willing to do your share? 
Belford here has been working like a Trojan for 
I don’t know how many hours. He’s all worn 
out. We want you to take this trick. You’ll 
have to watch close, for there’ll likely be calls for 
us. Summon me at once if you hear our call.” 

“ I reckon I can answer a call as well as any¬ 
body on this boat,” growled the scowling radio 
man. 

“ See here, Black,” said Henry. “ Why do 
you want to make trouble? We’re still at sea, 
and we’ve got some tall traveling to do before 
we are back safe in Yew Y^ork. We’ve all got to 
pull together. I’m not asking you to do this for 
me. It’s for the good of the ship.” And then, 
noting the sullen look in the lad’s eyes, Henry 
continued: “ There’s one thing more. I’m acting 
under orders from the captain. He has ordered 
me to take charge of the wireless. My instruc¬ 
tions are to let no one touch the key but myself. 
All I can do is to pass those orders along. If 
you hear a call for the Iroquois , waken me at 
once. I’ll answer it.” 

Young Black mumbled an unwilling assent, 
and swore under his breath. Henry and the 
other radio man passed out of the shack to the 
stateroom. They noticed that the wind had de¬ 
creased greatly. 

Once in the stateroom, Henry turned to his 


190 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

companion. “ What do you suppose ails that 
fellow, Black? ” 

“ I don’t know. None of us can make him 
out. He’s been snappy and surly ever since he 
came aboard a few months ago. He’s lazy— 
too lazy to study and practice and become a really 
good operator. But he is quick and reads wire¬ 
less calls very well. He spends most of his time 
smoking cigarettes and reading dime novels. 
He’s simply crazy to use the wireless. He 
thinks he’s a great operator. The chief elec¬ 
trician would be glad to let him practice under 
his own supervision, the way he does with me. 
But he doesn’t want either of us to send when he 
isn’t present. He’s afraid we might burn out 
something. I don’t want to knock Black, but 
I’d be afraid to have him monkey with any 
machine I was responsible for myself. He’s the 
most careless, reckless fellow I ever saw.” 

“ But why should he take such an apparent dis¬ 
like to me? ” demanded Henry. “I’m a com¬ 
plete stranger to him. He hasn’t any possible 
reason for disliking me.” 

“ He thinks he has,” said Belford. 

“He does? What is it?” 

“ Why, Mr. Sharp let you send a message on 
the wireless outfit yourself.” 

“ But Mr. Sharp was right beside me, to make 
sure I did no harm,” 


HENRY FINDS HE HAS AN ENEMY 191 

44 1 know it, but that doesn’t make any differ¬ 
ence with a fellow like Black. He dislikes you 
very much. He tried to tell me a long story 
about it. And to have you put over him as chief 
is more than he can stand. He’s a bad egg, I 
believe. And I’d watch him closely if I were 
you.” 

“ Of course I’ll watch him, if he’s likely to 
shirk his duty,” said Henry. “ He might get the 
ship into trouble.” 

“ I don’t mean to watch him in that way. 
Watch him on your own account. I don’t know 
that he’d really do anything to anybody. But 
he’s always talking about fixing this fellow or 
that fellow. He might try to do you some 
harm.” 

Henry smiled. “ There’s little danger,” he 
said. “ We’ll be in New York in a couple of 
days, and I’ll probably never see him again after 
that.” 

But though Henry smiled at the idea of the 
young operator’s doing him harm, he could not 
dismiss from his mind so easily the feeling that 
had come to him of uneasiness for the boat itself. 
He got his nightclothes from the captain’s cabin, 
undressed, and slipped into the chief operator’s 
bunk. But weary though he was, he could not 
sleep. He was worried, and worry was almost a 
new sensation to him. He could not at first 


192 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


understand it. He would be almost asleep, then 
he would wake up with a start, his leg or arm 
jerking nervously. It was partly the reaction 
from the long strain he had been under. That 
sort of experience was absolutely new to him, 
and he could not forget the horrible things he 
had witnessed. But gradually he came to real¬ 
ize that there was something more to his restless¬ 
ness than the reaction from nervous strain. 
Something was preying on his mind. After 
he had tossed sleeplessly on his mattress for a 
long time, he comprehended what was the matter. 
He was worried about the wireless. 

This was the first time in his life that Henry 
had ever been placed in a situation of great 
responsibility. The responsibility was very real, 
too, for the lad understood that in large measure 
the safety of the ship now depended upon him. 
Much more than his own life was at stake. The 
lives of all the men left on the cutter, and the 
safety of the ship herself, might at any moment 
become absolutely dependent upon him. If no 
danger threatened aboard the Iroquois , there 
might yet be other lives and other ships en¬ 
dangered, and upon how well his instruments 
were cared for, and how thoroughly the watch 
was kept, would depend the possibility of catch¬ 
ing those far-flung cries for help. 

Had Henry been put in charge of the wireless 


HENRY FINDS HE HAS AN ENEMY 193 

thus suddenly and unexpectedly, under less har¬ 
rowing circumstances, he doubtless would have 
felt the responsibility far less poignantly. But 
for hours past he had been watching the fight 
against death, and even death itself. He was 
nervously keyed up to a fearfully high pitch. 
His nerves would not let down. Doubtless it 
was the sense of responsibility that kept them 
taut. Again and again he told himself that it 
was his business to go to sleep and rest, so that 
he might be fit for duty when his turn came. 
But his arguments had no effect upon his nerves. 
He was unable to sleep. 

For an hour or two he tossed in his bunk rest¬ 
lessly. Again and again he fell asleep, only to 
wake a few minutes later. The situation preyed 
on him. He could not keep his thoughts away 
from the radio shack. Suppose all was not right 
there. Suppose young Black was taking this 
time to defy orders and fool with the wireless 
key. Suppose when Henry woke up he should 
find the wireless out of commission. And sup¬ 
pose the Iroquois should break her rudder, or 
crack her shaft. She might, with such a strain 
on it, in such a sea. Suppose the captain should 
go wrong in his reckoning and the cutter should 
pile up on the sands, as the Capitol City had 
done. Suppose—suppose- A hundred terri¬ 

fying suppositions came into Henry’s mind. 



194 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


Finally he could stand them no longer. He rose, 
drew on his clothes, and made his way toward 
the radio shack. Light was beginning to illu¬ 
mine the eastern sky. The sea still heaved 
violently, but the wind had lost most of its force. 
Peace was returning to the troubled world. 

Then Henry stepped inside of the radio shack, 
and stood as though petrified. Young Black lay 
back in his chair, his eyes tightly closed, snoring 
loudly. He was sound asleep. For all that 
Henry knew, he might have been asleep for a 
long time. 

“ Black,” said Henry sternly, touching the 
sleeping wireless man on the shoulder. When 
the sleeper merely grunted, Henry said, still 
more sternly, “Wake up!” And this time he 
shook the sleeper vigorously. 

Slowly young Black opened his eyes. A 
savage oath burst from his lips as he saw who 
was standing before him and realized his situa¬ 
tion. Then a crafty look came into his eyes. 
He laughed. 

“ Fooled you that time, didn’t I? ” he chuckled. 
“ You thought I was asleep.” 

“ No, you didn't fool me,” said Henry. “ I 
don’t think you were asleep. I know it. Put on 
your head-phones and attend to your business.” 

All the ill nature in the other lad’s being leaped 
to the front. “You spy!” he snarled, with an 


HENRY FINDS HE HAS AN ENEMY 195 


oath. “ So that’s the sort of chief radio man 
we’ve got, is it? A sneaking spy! ” 

For a moment it was all Henry could do to 
keep from hitting the lad. But he took a grip 
on himself and for a moment made no answer. 
Then he said: “ I shall report this matter to the 
captain as soon as possible. You may go to your 
bunk. I will finish your watch myself.” 

Slowly the third-class radio man arose and left 
the shack. At the door he turned and faced 
Henry. “ You sneaking spy,” he said, with 
another oath, “ if you tell the captain, I’ll fix you 
as sure as my name is Black.” 


CHAPTER XIV 


A CATASTROPHE 

TT ENRY gave slight heed to the young opera- 

•*- tor’s threat. Not for one second did he fear 
violence from him. Should any physical en¬ 
counter occur, he was sure he could take care of 
himself, and he saw no other way in which young 
Black could harm him. He believed his own 
word would be taken quicker than Black’s. 
Knowing that he had done no wrong, and that 
he intended to do none, he saw no way in which 
his rebellious assistant could do him an injury. 
So, as soon as he could, he dismissed the matter 
from his mind. 

But on account of the excitement accompany¬ 
ing his little encounter with Black, it was not 
altogether easy to forget the matter. When 
Henry remembered that Black had been asleep 
at the key, and that some one might have been 
trying to talk to the Iroquois, he drew on the 
head-phones and for a space sat listening. Then 
he threw over his switch, flashed out a general 
call, and asked if any one had been calling the 
Iroquois . When, after listening and repeating 
the message, there came no response, he felt re- 
196 


A CATASTROPHE 197 

lieved. He sat back in his chair, satisfied that 
all was right. 

After breakfast Belford came on duty, accord¬ 
ing to agreement. He expressed his surprise at 
finding Henry in the wireless shack. Henry 
told him what had happened. Young Belford 
frowned deeply. 

“ Be careful, Harper,” he said. “ I never 
trusted Black. He might try to do you some 
harm.” 

“ I don’t see how he could,” said Henry. 
“ There are too many people about.” 

“ Just the same I wouldn’t spend too much 
time out on deck after dark. There’s seldom any 
one out there except the watch forward.” 

“ I’m sorry it happened,” remarked Henry. 
“ I hate to tell on him.” 

“ But you must,” urged Belford. “ If you 
don’t, he’ll think he has scared you out of it. 
Then he’ll be worse than ever. And he ought to 
be punished, if only to make him more careful in 
future. You can’t tell what might happen if the 
wireless watch goes to sleep.” 

“ I shall report him, of course, but, none the 
less, I dislike to do it. It almost makes me feel 
like the spy he said I was.” 

“ Don’t feel that way. What you are doing 
you are doing for the safety of the ship.” 

Henry surrendered the watch to Belford and 


198 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


went straight to the captain’s cabin. “ Come 
in,” said the captain, when Henry knocked. 

“ Good-morning, Captain Hardwick,” said 
Henry, as he entered the cabin. “ I have come 
to you on a disagreeable business. I have to re¬ 
port young Black for carelessness about his 
work.” 

The captain looked at Henry keenly. “ Have 
you boys been quarreling? ’■’ he asked. 

“ I was afraid you’d think that was about the 
size of it,” responded Henry, “ and I was very 
reluctant to bother you with the matter at all. 
But I thought I really owed it to you, Captain 
Hardwick. I could not sleep after the excite¬ 
ment last night, and I dressed and went to the 
wireless room. Black was on duty, and I found 
him fast asleep.” 

The captain’s face grew dark as a thunder¬ 
cloud. “Asleep at the wireless key!” he said. 
“ It was indeed your duty to report the matter to 
me. I’ll break that fellow quick. We’ll have 
him before a court-martial and clap him in the 
brig, and he’ll be dishonorably discharged the 
minute we reach shore.” 

“ Please don’t do that, Captain Hardwick. I 
should hate to think I had made a fellow lose his 
job. Maybe he’ll do better in future. Won’t 
you let him off with a reprimand or some slight 
punishment? ” 


A CATASTROPHE 


199 


The captain looked at Henry searchingly. 
“ I can’t exactly understand you,” he said. 
“ You report a man for wrong-doing and then 
don’t want him punished. Can you explain 
that?” 

“ Why, sir, he ought to be reported. That’s 
plain enough. Maybe he ought to be punished, 
too. But if he is punished, it will look as though 
I was simply trying to get even with him. I 
wouldn’t want anybody, even Black, to think I 
was so small as that.” 

‘‘Get even with him!” cried the captain. 
“ Then you did have a quarrel. I can’t seem to 
get head or tail of this business.” 

“ It was like this, Captain,” said Henry, seeing 
now that he could no longer keep anything back. 
“ I found Black asleep. I told him I wPuld re¬ 
port him to you. We had some words. But 
please don’t think I’m reporting Black because 
I’m sore at him, or anything like that.” 

“ I begin to understand,” nodded the captain. 
“ Is there any one else who knows about this 
affair? ” 

“No one was present, sir, but Belford knows 
about it.” 

“ Send him to me,” said the commander. 

Henry relieved his fellow-operator at the key, 
and Belford went direct to the cabin. He told 
the captain all he knew about the affair. 


200 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


44 1 think I understand now,” said the com¬ 
mander. 44 Harper told Black he would report 
him, and Black called him a spy. That went 
hard with Henry. He couldn’t help feeling he 
was a sort of spy, even though he was doing his 
plain duty.” 

44 And don’t forget, sir, that Black threatened 
to fix Henry if he reported him,” said Belford. 

The commander of the Iroquois turned the 
situation over in his mind. 44 Jimmy,” he said, 
44 was there any good reason why Black should 
have fallen asleep? Was he worn out, as some 
of the rest of the crew were, by their long 
efforts? ” 

44 He was the freshest man on the boat,” said 
Belford, with feeling. 44 He never left our cabin 
the whole time we were trying to save our men, 
and most of the time I think he was in bed.” 

44 Why? ” demanded the captain, astonished. 

Jimmy hesitated. 44 I think, sir, he’s yellow.” 

44 Send him to me,” thundered the captain. 

Just what occurred during that interview no¬ 
body but the captain and the delinquent operator 
ever knew. But young Black came out on deck 
at last, looking both frightened and very venge¬ 
ful, and the captain announced that Black had 
been restricted for twenty days. If the third- 
class radio man realized how near he had been to 
a general court-martial, he gave no sign of know- 


A CATASTROPHE 


201 


ing, and showed no gratitude for the pleas that 
had in all probability saved him. 

The run to Boston continued without incident. 
Slowly but steadily the Iroquois proceeded with 
her tow. The wind fell steadily, and the sea 
grew calmer. The journey up the tortuous 
channel was made without mishap. The Capitol 
City was safely berthed where she could be re¬ 
paired, and the Iroquois continued to the Navy 
Yard, and secured some small boats to replace 
those she had lost overboard. Then the little 
cutter once more headed down the harbor and out 
to the open sea. 

The passage back was indeed an eventful one 
to Henry. Had it not been for the terrible 
events he had so recently witnessed, events which 
he could not forget, the journey would have been 
joyful in the extreme. The weather was ex¬ 
cellent. Bright and clear shone the sun: the sea, 
becoming ever calmer, flashed and sparkled 
brilliantly; the air had a tonic quality. Over¬ 
head, white, fleecy clouds floated in an azure 
sky. 

Porpoises appeared. In shoals they played 
about in the sea. Like so many hurdlers, they 
drove forward in groups, first one and then 
another, lunging above the waves as though to 
leap over some unseen marine obstacle. Henry 
had never before seen porpoises. It delighted 


202 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

him to watch them. And when he found that a 
shoal of them was swimming immediately in front 
of the ship’s prow, he leaned over the forward 
rail with the sailors, and watched them. In 
particular he was interested in two of the great, 
lumbering bodies that swam side by side immedi¬ 
ately before the cutwater. Their tails almost 
touched the prow. They looked as though they 
were towing the ship, as apparently, without 
effort, they kept pace with it. But when a sailor 
hit one of them with a clinker, frightening them, 
the great fish showed that they were anything 
but lumbering. They darted away from the 
Iroquois as though that ship were tied to a post, 
instead of traveling fourteen or fifteen miles an 
hour. Henry wondered how fast porpoises 
could swim. He thought that they must be 
going at least twice as fast as the cutter. He 
remembered that he had read of the enormous 
speed of those curious denizens of the deep, the 
barracuda and the sailfish, which travel sixty or 
even seventy miles an hour. 

But if the porpoises interested Henry, the next 
fishes he saw held him almost speechless, for 
off the Nantucket shoals the Iroquois came upon 
several whales. With the glasses Henry could 
make them out plainly. Enormous bulks they 
were, and at times they spouted columns of water 
aloft, which was quickly blown into misty spray 


A CATASTROPHE 


203 


by the breeze. Henry had read of whales spout¬ 
ing, but he had never expected to see one of them 
doing it. 

Close to the Ambrose Lightship the Iroquois 
passed as she was heading into the channel for 
New York. On the lightship’s flaming red side 
was painted in huge letters the word “ Ambrose.” 
Instead of topmasts she carried, on her mast¬ 
heads, round red globes for lights at night. 
Henry marveled at the sturdiness of these little 
ships that lie at anchor month after month, riding 
out the most terrific storms, and guiding the 
sailor on his way. 

As the Iroquois sailed past the lightship, the 
colors of the latter slowly fluttered down 
from aloft, then rose again. Henry had not 
previously seen one ship salute another by dip¬ 
ping her colors. He noticed the flag fluttering 
down, but did not catch the significance of it 
until the quartermaster called to a sailor to run 
aft and dip the Iroquois 9 flag. A moment later 
the cutter’s ensign came fluttering down, then 
was run aloft again. 

As the Iroquois drew near to New York there 
was an abundance of work for Henry to do. He 
had to be in the wireless house much of the time. 
The* ship had to report her position at regular 
intervals. There were orders to be taken and 
messages to be sent. Henry felt that his days 


204 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


as an operator were passing fast. When Mr. 
Sharp rejoined the boat in New York, he would 
of course be relieved from duty. He wanted to 
learn all he could about the work of a wireless 
man on shipboard, so hour after hour he sat in 
the wireless shack, sometimes alone at his own 
watch and sometimes with his associates. 

What was his great joy, on one of these long 
watches, to hear in the frosty air the crackling 
signal “ WNA—WNA—WNA—de—WNG.” 
Well did Henry know that call. Often had he 
flashed it out himself. It was the call of the 
Lycoming, and her sister ship, the Tioga , was 
calling her. The Lycoming must be nearing 
port. Roy would be at her key. He would be 
in New York when Henry got there, perhaps, or 
at any rate he would reach there a few hours 
later. Henry felt that his troubles were over. 
Roy would help him out, and maybe could find 
him a permanent job. At any rate, Roy had 
repeatedly asked Henry to make the trip to 
Galveston and back as his guest. He would 
make the trip now. The immediate future was 
provided for. With his heart beating with 
happiness, Henry listened to the exchange of 
communications between the Tioga and the 
Lycoming, then threw over his switch and rapped 
out the call, “ WNA—WNA—WNA—de— 
NTE.” 


A CATASTROPHE 


205 


Promptly came the crackling reply, “ NTE— 
NTE—NTE—de—WNA—K.” 

How well Henry recognized the swift, sure, 
even sending. Nobody else in the world handled 
a wireless key just like Roy. 

“ This is Henry Harper,” flashed back Henry. 
“ I am on the Coast Guard cutter Iroquois . We 
are heading for New York. Expect to arrive 
after dark to-night. Where can I see you? ” 

“We dock about sunset,” came the reply. 
“ Come to the Lycoming . Will wait for you.” 

Happy indeed was Henry. A few hours 
would see him with his old friend. His troubles 
would be over. Poor Henry! If only he could 
have foreseen what the night would bring forth, 
his smile would have vanished quickly. But he 
could not foresee, and gleefully he continued 
with his tasks. 

As the ship came nearer and nearer to her 
harbor, Henry had more and more to do. The 
captain kept him busy at the wireless. Among 
other messages, Henry sent one about the men 
who had been swept ashore, and who were now in 
New York. They were to be at the Staten 
Island landing and come aboard the moment the 
Iroquois dropj)ed anchor. Supper time came. 
Henry had been eating with the crew, since he 
became an operator. Now the captain asked him 
to take this last meal on board with him in the 


206 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

cabin. It was a joyous meal for the lad. He 
told the captain about his friend Roy and the 
good times they had had at home, and about his 
coming meeting with him. 

After supper, as they sailed up the channel in 
the dark, Henry started for the radio house again 
to relieve Belford. He passed the surgeon, who 
was hurrying forward with his medicine case. 

“ What is the trouble, Doctor? ” asked Henry. 

“ One of the sailors mashed a finger while 
doing something to the anchor-chain,” replied the 
surgeon, hurrying on. 

Henry entered the radio shack and relieved 
Belford. The quartermaster called the latter up 
to the chart-room. Henry adjusted the head¬ 
phones and almost immediately caught the call 
of the Iroquois. They were almost at their 
anchorage, and the call came with startling dis¬ 
tinctness. Henry threw open his switch and 
flashed an acknowledgment of the call. The 
commandant of the New York district of the 
Coast Guard was sending a message for Captain 
Hardwick. Henry wrote it down, copied it 
neatly on a telegraph blank, and climbed up the 
ladder through the darkness to the bridge. 

The ship’s bell was musically striking the hour. 
It was seven o’clock. Henry thought he should 
miss that musical bell after he got ashore. Cap¬ 
tain Hardwick stepped into the chart-room, read 


A CATASTROPHE 


207 


the message, and wrote a reply. Henry hurried 
back to his post. He had not been gone five 
minutes, yet he took the precaution to listen in 
for a little time. No one was calling him. He 
spread the telegraph blank on his desk, read the 
captain’s message, and made ready to send 
it. He threw over his switch, put his fingers on 
his key, and started to call headquarters. A few 
tiny sparks leaped across his gap. Then his key 
went dead. Aghast, he dropped his phones and 
began to examine his instruments. But he could 
see nothing wrong. Everything looked as it had 
always looked. Again Henry tried his key. 
There was no response. His face went white. 
Apparently the costly wireless outfit was ruined. 
It must have been burned out, and ajDparently 
Henry himself was to blame. 


CHAPTER XV 


UNDER A CLOUD 

T?OR a moment Henry was dumbfounded. 
A He could not imagine what had gone wrong. 
Then it occurred to him that perhaps he had a 
faulty connection somewhere. He ran his eye and 
hand over all the lengths of wire in his outfit, but 
nowhere could he see anything wrong. More 
than once he tested his key, but it did not come 
to life. Then he thought of his auxiliary bat¬ 
teries and switched to them. The result was the 
same. Everything appeared to be all right, but 
there was no answering flash when he pressed the 
key. He thought of trying to make some new 
sort of connection with this secondary battery. 
The difficulty was that he did not really know 
what was wrong. He knew enough about the 
equipment, he felt sure, to find the difficulty. He 
started to make an examination, but stopped 
after loosening several screws. It occurred to 
him that this might take him a long time. He 
would not work so surely or so accurately as a 
man trained like the chief electrician. Further¬ 
more, he might, in trying to remedy matters, 
make them worse. 


208 


UNDER A CLOUD 


209 


Henry thought hard for a moment, then de¬ 
cided that the best thing to do would be to tell 
the captain at once what had happened. The 
crippling of the Iroquois ’ wireless just at this 
juncture could make no vital difference, for the 
ship was almost ready to drop her anchor, and if 
the sailors had got the captain’s message, they 
would be ready to come aboard. Doubtless the 
chief electrician would be with them. He could 
probably repair the damage quickly. 

The instant he had come to a decision, Henry 
raced up to the bridge. “ Captain Hardwick,” 
he reported, “ something has gone wrong with 
the wireless. I cannot get a spark out of it. I 
was unable to send your last message. I do not 
know what is wrong, and I thought perhaps I 
had better not tinker with the instruments, seeing 
that the chief electrician is likely so near at hand.” 

“ Something wrong with the wireless? ” echoed 
the captain, his face becoming grave. “ What 
have you done to it? ” 

“ Not a thing, Captain. I handled it just as I 
have always handled a wireless set. When I 
came up on the bridge a few moments ago it was 
working perfectly. When I tried to send your 
message, the key was dead.” 

“ Maybe you had a loose connection.” 

“ I examined the outfit for that, sir.” 

“ Are you sure that you didn’t do something to 


210 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

the instruments? Didn’t forget about your 
power? If you allow too much direct current to 
pass through your instruments, you will burn 
them out.” 

“ I know that, Captain. And I didn’t use too 
much current. The outfit is just as it was when 
Mr. Sharp was in charge.” 

“ Where’s Mr. Belford? ” asked the com¬ 
mander. “ Find him.” 

Belford was still talking to the quartermaster. 
They had been on the bridge, on the sheltered 
side of the wheel-house ever since Belford had 
left the radio shack. 

“ Go take a look at the wireless,” directed the 
commander, “ and see if you can do anything 
with it.” 

“ Where’s Black? ” demanded the captain, 
after Belford had run down the ladder. 

The quartermaster and Henry went in search 
of him. They found him in his bunk, asleep. It 
was necessary to shake him roundly before he 
woke. Evidently he had been long asleep. He 
went up to the bridge with them. 

“ Do you know anything about this difficulty 
with the wireless? ” asked the captain, suspi¬ 
ciously. 

“ What difficulty? I’ve been in my bed asleep 
for an hour, sir. I didn’t know there was any 
difficulty.” 


UNDER A CLOUD 


211 


“ Is that so?” pressed the captain. 

“We found him fast asleep, as he says,” spoke 
up the quartermaster. 

The commander turned slowly to Henry. 
“ The responsibility seems to be up to you,” he 
said. 

“ It seems so, sir,” replied Henry. “ Yet that 
set was all right when I used it just before I 
came to the bridge. When I got back and at¬ 
tempted to send with it again, it went wrong. 
Certainly I ought to be entitled to the benefit of 
the doubt.” 

The captain looked at him searchingly. “ I 
didn’t think you were the sort of boy who would 
try to crawl out of a difficulty instead of stand¬ 
ing up and facing it,” said the commander. 

“ Nor am I,” cried Henry. “ If I had done 
the least thing to cause trouble with the wireless, 
sir, I would tell you frankly and take the conse¬ 
quences. But I did nothing—absolutely nothing. 
I can’t help feeling that somebody tampered with 
it.” 

“ Who would dare do such a thing? ” de¬ 
manded the captain. 

“ I don’t know. I don’t accuse anybody. 
But I know too much about wireless outfits to 
believe that this one suddenly went bad without 
a cause.” 

“We will investigate the whole matter thor- 


212 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


oughly, Henry,” said the captain. “ Pending 
that investigation, I shall have to ask you to re¬ 
main aboard as my guest.” 

“ I will be glad to do so,” cried Henry. “ In 
fact, I do not want to leave this boat until we get 
to the bottom of this whole thing.” 

“ It may not take so long as you think to do 
that. The chief electrician should be aboard in 
a few moments.” 

Already the Iroquois was at her anchorage. 
Her engines were no longer running. Against 
a strong tide she was fast coming to rest. 

“ Let go your anchor,” said the captain sud¬ 
denly. 

The anchor slid into the water, and the ship 
swung in the tide and came to rest. Immedi¬ 
ately the launch was lowered. In a moment it 
was skimming over to the landing. A few 
moments more saw it on the way back, laden 
heavily with sailors. 

The chief electrician was aboard. Like many 
of the others, he was suffering from a terrible 
cold, but he declared he was fit for duty. At 
once the captain sent him to the radio shack. 
Henry and his friend Bel ford went with him. 
Like a finished workman, the head radio man set 
about his task of finding the difficulty. He 
threw on the current and tested his motor. To 
all appearances it was in perfect condition. It 


UNDER A CLOUD 


213 


operated with perfect smoothness, and the speed 
was normal and perfectly sustained, but when 
Mr. Sharp looked at the voltmeter of his gener¬ 
ator, there was another story to tell. The meter 
showed no voltage whatever. There was an open 
circuit either in the generator or in the field. 

At once the chief electrician attempted to ad¬ 
just the field strength by shifting the field 
rheostat. To his surprise he found the handle of 
the rheostat was warm. 

“ The rheostat is burned out,” he said, “ and 
there is likely an open field circuit.” 

“ Then one of the field coils must have gone 
bad,” said Henry. 

“ Right. I see you do know something about 
wireless,” observed the chief electrician. 

Henry reached forward and began to examine 
the field coils. There were four of them. The 
bottom one and the two on the sides were warm, 
but the top coil was cool. 

“ Here it is! ” cried Henry. 

The chief electrician rapidly ran his hand over 
the coils and verified Henry’s findings. “ We’ll 
take it off,” he said, “ and put a new one in its 
place.” 

Skillfully he set to work. It required care 
and deft handling, but he soon had the defective 
coil removed and a new one set in its place. 
Then he turned to the rheostat, which had been 


214 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


burned out by the excessive charge sent through 
it by the defect in the coil. He undamped the 
instrument from the desk, unscrewed the wires 
from the binding-posts, and removed the useless 
thing. He screwed a spare rheostat in place and 
connected the wires to the binding-posts. Then 
he picked up the offending coil and examined it 
closely. 

“ Can’t see a thing wrong with it,” he said. 
“When I have time, I’ll take it to pieces and 
find out what’s wrong with it. Just now I must 
get the captain’s messages off.” 

He threw the coil in his desk, sat down in the 
chair, threw over his switch and touched the key. 
A great fat stream of fire flashed forth. 

“ It’s all hunky-dory,” he smiled. “ Not so 
bad as it might have been. Go tell the captain.” 

Henry drew a deep sigh of relief and raced 
for the captain’s cabin. The captain said little, 
but gave him further messages to take to Mr. 
Sharp. 

Rapidly the chief radio man flashed out the 
message that had brought Henry to grief, and 
then set to work on the new communications. 

When the electrician was done, Henry said 
to him, “ Would it be possible for Roy to come 
see me here? ” 

“ Ask the captain.” 

The captain considered a moment after Henry 


UNDER A CLOUD 


215 


had gone again to the cabin and stated his wish. 
“ I know how you feel,” he said. “ You would 
like to see your friend. So would I in similar 
circumstances. It’s pretty late, but wire him 
anyway, and ask him to spend the night aboard. 
You’ve been a real help to me, and I’ll be glad to 
have your friend come. Arrange with him so 
that we can send a boat ashore to meet him, and 
tell Lieutenant Hill when to send it.” 

Henry thanked the captain. Elated, he ran 
to the wireless house and informed the chief 
electrician of the captain’s order. Mr. Sharp 
sat down at his key, and in no time was in com¬ 
munication with the wireless man of the 
Lycoming, who was listening in, in expectation 
of a call from Henry. Mr. Sharp told him 
enough to make him understand that there was 
some difficulty about Henry’s leaving the ship, 
and that the captain wished him, Roy, to come 
aboard the Iroquois and spend the night. 

Roy came, and was met by a boat. Henry 
greeted him at the top of the ladder and wrung 
his hand. He first introduced Roy to the cap¬ 
tain, and then took him direct to the radio shack. 
Mr. Sharp was still there. Henry made the two 
radio men acquainted, and then the three drew 
up their chairs, and Henry related briefly the 
history of his difficulty. 

“ May I see that coil? ” asked Roy. 


216 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


The chief electrician drew it out of his drawer 
and passed it to his fellow wireless man. 

Roy turned the coil slowly around in his hand, 
examining it searchingly. It was a coil with a 
corded covering. Apparently nothing was 
wrong with it. There was no external evidence 
of inner deterioration. When he had turned it 
around several times, Roy handed it back to Mr. 
Sharp. 

“ It’s odd,” he commented. “ I never had a 
coil burn out for me. But I suppose there must 
have been some weak spot in the insulation, and 
finally it gave way under the high voltage. 
Most anything will burn out in time.” 

“ When I have opportunity,” said the chief 
electrician, “ I shall take it to pieces. I’m 
curious to know how it went bad. If one coil 
will do that, another might. I might be caught 
at sea that way some time and be in a bad fix.” 

“ I’d do it without fail,” urged Roy. “ You 
want to find out why that coil went bad.” 

“ I’ll have to,” assented Mr. Sharp, “ for the 
captain will make a thorough investigation of the 
matter.” 

They remained in the wireless shack, the two 
radio men chatting about their experiences at sea, 
until young Black came in to take his turn on 
watch. He had gone back to his rest after being 
disturbed by Henry and Belford. Now Henry 


UNDER A CLOUD 217 

and Roy and Mr. Sharp went to the stateroom. 
Belford entered with them. 

When it came time to go to bed, Belford in¬ 
sisted upon sleeping below deck with the sailors, 
so that Henry and Roy might remain together 
in the stateroom. Roy was given Belford’s 
bunk, and Henry took Black’s, and, slipping 
into them, they turned out the light. But for 
some time Henry could not sleep. He was still 
excited and worried, and he felt very uncom¬ 
fortable. 

But finally he quieted down. It gave him 
such a feeling of comfort to have Roy at hand. 
Whatever happened, he knew that he had one 
staunch friend who would stand by him to the 
very end, and who would believe in him, and who 
also possessed the technical ability to be of great 
service to him. He believed that Mr. Sharp and 
Belford and the captain were also friendly to him 
and would be fair. But he knew that Roy was 
his friend, and in that thought he found such 
solace that presently he fell asleep. Soon there 
was no sound in the little stateroom save the 
heavy breathing of the sleeping wireless men. 


CHAPTER XVI 


THE MYSTERY GROWS DEEPER 

E three men in the stateroom were astir 



A early the next morning. Roy had to get 
back to the Lycoming, but before he went, he 
sought and obtained an interview with Captain 
Hardwick. The commander liked his looks, and 
felt drawn toward him, as indeed every one was, 
for Roy was a prime favorite with all who knew 


him. 


“ Captain Hardwick,” he said, after Henry 
had introduced him and withdrawn from the 
cabin, “ I want first of all to thank you for your 
courtesy in allowing me to come to Henry and 
stay with him overnight. He feels this matter 
very keenly, and it is certainly hard to think he 
should start out so unfortunately. I suppose 
the chief electrician has told you that the diffi¬ 
culty with the wireless was in a coil that had 
grounded in the field. He will try to learn why 
it grounded. But no matter what he finds, I 
want to say that you can have absolute confidence 
in Henry. I’ve known him a good many years, 
and he would be the last person in the world to 
do anything dishonorable.” 


218 


THE MYSTERY GROWS DEEPER 219 


“We will go into this matter thoroughly/’ said 
the captain, without committing himself, “ and I 
have no doubt we shall get to the bottom of it. 
You may be sure that I shall do whatever is 
right.” 

Roy thanked the captain, was set ashore by the 
launch, and made his way back to his own ship. 

Life aboard the Iroquois went on as it ordi¬ 
narily did. Now that the ship lay in harbor, with 
fewer duties for the seamen, the captain put the 
crew to work drilling. Some of these drills 
Henry had seen the first day or so he was on 
board the ship. During the extraordinary events 
that had occurred on that trip, drills had been 
suspended. Now the captain put his men 
through their paces with renewed vigor, as 
though to make up for lost time. 

Naturally the thing that attracted Henry most 
was the practice with the big guns. There were 
two four-inch guns mounted on the forward deck. 
The crews of these guns were assembled in their 
proper places. Then the captain, standing on 
the bridge, gave an order, the gun-breeches were 
thrown open, the big shells inserted and the 
breeches locked, the guns sighted, and, at a word 
of command, crack they went. But the crack 
was only a click, for the shells were imaginary, 
and all the rest of the drill was also largely a 
matter of the imagination. How Henry did 


220 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


wish he could see the guns really fired at some¬ 
thing! What a noise they would make! And 
how far their shells would go tearing across the 
water! 

He was especially interested when the captain 
showed him the range-finder. Never had he seen 
anything like this before. It was a small 
horizontal tube, containing prisms and reflecting 
mirrors. There were eyepieces in the middle of 
the sides of the tube. When one looked through 
this range-finder at a distant ship, or target, that 
target seemed to be divided into two parts, half 
above and half below a common line. By twirl¬ 
ing a screw, and so moving the reflectors within 
the tube, the parts of the ship moved into place 
until at last there stood forth a perfect image of 
a ship. Above this image was a scale, which in¬ 
dicated the range. To find the range, all the 
commander had to do was to look through this 
tube at his target, twirl the screw until the image 
of the target became perfect, and then read the 
figures that stood just above the image. 

The collision drill was also interesting. In 
imagination, the Iroquois had run into another 
ship, and a great gaping hole had been torn in her 
hull. At the captain’s word of command the 
crew sprang to their places, and a collision mat¬ 
tress was quickly j)roduced and unrolled. This 
was then lowered over the side, so as to cover the 


THE MYSTERY GROWS DEEPER 221 


hole in the hull. In practice, of course, the 
collision mattress was not actually lowered into 
the water, but it was brought to the side of the 
ship and balanced on the rail, ready to be dropped 
over. It required little vision to see how useful 
such an article would be after an actual collision. 
Unless the hole in the ship were too large, the 
mattress would be caught in it as it was drawn 
inward by the suction of the inrushing water, 
much as a cork might be drawn fast by suction 
down the neck of a bottle. The mattress, of 
course, was meant to act like a cork and keep the 
sea out. 

The abandon-ship drill would have had more 
fascination for Henry had he not by this time 
been so familiar with the process of lowering a 
small boat. Nevertheless it was interesting to 
see the men prepare themselves, just as they 
would if they were really going to abandon the 
ship, with compasses and rifles, and provisions, 
and then line up opposite the boats Avhile the roll 
was called and each man mustered. Of course 
the men did not actually get in the boats, though 
these were lowered even with the rail. Likewise 
this drill gave Henry a chance to examine the 
small boats better. Though these were new, they 
were much like those the Iroquois had lost. The 
quartermaster called his attention to the water- 
beakers and the boat-boxes that contained certain 


222 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


kinds of food, fishing-lines, etc. They were so 
snugly stowed away that Henry had hardly 
noticed them. A crew adrift in one of these 
boats would have food and water for some time. 

The fire drill had little novelty for Henry. 
Too often he had seen the firemen in his native 
town couple their hose to a fire-plug and squirt 
water, to be much excited about a similar display 
now, though it was rather interesting to see eight 
streams going at one time. 

The infantry drill had more attraction for 
him. It was not exactly a novelty, either, but it 
gave him a new idea of the Coast Guard men. 
He had not previously thought of them as sol¬ 
diers. But when the quartermaster told him 
that in time of war the Coast Guard becomes, 
part of the navy, he saw that marines on a battle¬ 
ship were no more necessary than they were on 
a Coast Guard cutter. 

Probably Henry would have enjoyed all these 
exhibitions more, had he not been under the 
shadow of suspicion. No formal charges had 
been made against him, and he was not exactly a 
prisoner. Neither was he free to leave the boat. 
He hoped that the captain would soon get to the 
bottom of the mystery. Henry did not feel free 
to say anything to the chief electrician about the 
matter, lest the latter think that he was seeking 
to influence him. So he stayed away from the 


THE MYSTERY GROWS DEEPER 223 


radio shack. He was no longer a part of the 
wireless force, for the return of the chief electri¬ 
cian had taken his job from him. 

But while Henry was disconsolately consider¬ 
ing the matter, things were moving briskly in the 
wireless shack. Though he was now really sick, 
the chief electrician continued on duty. Alone 
on his watch, he was working patiently to uncover 
the difficulty with his grounded coil. Once more 
he had examined this coil thoroughly, yet he could 
see no external indications of impairment. 

Slowly he now unwound the covering cords 
that formed the outer casing for the wrapped 
wires within. There was still nothing visibly 
wrong. But when he had cleared the cords 
away, and had gotten to the coil itself, his sharp 
eye detected a shining little dot, hardly bigger 
than a large pinhead, among the wire wrappings. 
With the point of his knife-blade he picked 
at this shining point and found it was hard, 
like metal. He believed he had found the diffi¬ 
culty. 

Getting a large wooden spool, he began to un¬ 
wind the copper wire from the coil, rolling it up 
on the empty spool as he unrolled it from the coil. 
Swiftly he transferred the wire from one 
cylinder to the other. As his coil grew thinner 
he saw that he had found the difficulty. The 
bright dot was the head of a long, thin finishing 


224 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


nail. Presently it was sticking up a half inch 
above the winding of the coil. The chief electri¬ 
cian started to pull it out, then thought better of 
it and desisted. But even his first slight tug at 
the nail showed him it was pretty tight. He 
went on unwinding. But now he examined 
the wire carefully as it unrolled. In piercing 
the coil, the nail had cut the insulation of 
practically every wire it had touched. In one 
or two places it had even severed the wire wrap¬ 
ping itself. When at last the chief electrician 
unwrapped the last winding of the coil, the nail 
dropped to his desk. Its end was bent over at 
an angle, and the metal core was scratched where 
the nail had been bent sidewise. The whole thing 
was as plain as day now. Some one had driven 
the nail through the coil, finishing the job with 
one or two hard blows that had bent the point 
against the core of the coil, sinking the head far 
below the corded cover. The question was, who 
had done it. 

As soon as he had made this discovery, Mr. 
Sharp carefully removed all traces of his work, 
locked the parts of the damaged coil in his private 
drawer, bundled himself up, and sought the cap¬ 
tain. The nail he had in his pocket. 

“ I have found the trouble, Captain Hard¬ 
wick,” the chief electrician reported, when he was 
alone with the captain in the cabin. “ There it 


THE MYSTERY GROWS DEEPER 225 


is,” and he laid the bent nail before his com¬ 
mander. 

“ You look half sick, Sparks,” said the latter, 
looking at him keenly. “ Be careful of your¬ 
self.” 

“ It’s that wretched cold I got from my duck¬ 
ing at Cape Cod,” laughed the chief electrician. 
“ I’ll be all right soon.” 

The captain picked up the nail and examined 
it curiously. “ Well? ” he said inquiringly. 

“ That was in the grounded coil,” said the chief 
electrician. “ That is what grounded it. Some 
one drove that nail into the coil.” 

The captain stared at the nail long and fixedly. 
“ It beats me,” he said at last. “ You think that 
it was done maliciously, don’t you? Is there a 
possibility that it might have been done in an ex¬ 
perimental way? Now, young Harper is very 
ambitious and desirous of learning. Might he 
have been experimenting, trying to learn some¬ 
thing, by fooling with the outfit? ” 

“ In my opinion, Captain, whoever did this did 
it with perfect knowledge of what would happen. 
I cannot think it was done for any purpose except 
to put the wireless out of commission.” 

The captain frowned. “ I fear you are right, 
Sparks. But who would want to put the wire¬ 
less out of commission? I can think of only two 
reasons why any one should do that. Some one 


226 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


might have it in for me or for the operator. If 
it weren’t that young Black was asleep when this 
was done, I’d think he did it. You know he and 
Harper had some words.” 

“ That would explain everything,” said the 
chief radio man, “ but the facts won’t fit the case.” 

“ So far as we know, not a soul was on deck 
except the men on watch. If some one entered 
the radio room while Henry was up in the chart- 
room with me, he would have had to be both sly 
and slick. He would have had to watch young 
Harper’s every movement, and be all prepared 
to run in and drive this nail home. It was a 
terrible risk to run, for it was certain that the 
wireless man wouldn’t be away from his key for 
more than a minute or two. Discovery was al¬ 
most certain. The more I consider it, the more 
it seems to me that young Harper must have been 
experimenting. Did you find anything else out 
of its usual order? ” 

“ Now that you speak of it, I did find some 
loose screws, as though some of the other instru¬ 
ments had been tampered with.” 

“ I hate to think of it,” replied the captain, 
“ but it looks very much as though young Har¬ 
per took advantage of his position to tinker with 
the instruments.” 

“ That might be true about the other instru¬ 
ments, Captain, but he would certainly know 


THE MYSTERY GROWS DEEPER 227 


what would result from driving a nail into a field 
coil. ,, 

“ Maybe so, maybe so, but he may not know 
half as much about wireless as you think. All I 
can do is to go according to the facts. They 
point to young Harper. But we shall have to 
have more evidence on the matter before I decide 
what to do. Furthermore, the situation is so very 
unusual that I am puzzled as to what should be 
done, even if I knew Harper to be the culprit. 
In a sense he was a regular operator. I made 
him one temporarily. But he is under age, and 
we did not have the consent of his mother to his 
enlistment. And finally, I should have to take 
into consideration the very real service he ren¬ 
dered us during the storm. Strictly, I suppose, 
he was only a volunteer that I put in charge for 
a time.” 

“ I can’t help feeling that the lad is innocent,” 
urged the chief radio man. “ He undoubtedly 
knows a lot about wireless, and no one who knows 
anything about it would have done what he did 
unless he intended to cripple the service.” 

“ We must go by the facts, young man, not by 
theories,” said the captain a little testily. “ But 
let’s get all the facts. Say nothing. Let no one 
know you have discovered the cause of the 
trouble. If the culprit thinks he is undiscovered, 
he may give himself away.” 


CHAPTER XVII 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 

^T^HE day succeeding that on which Mr. Sharp 
found the nail in the field coil was another 
of those cold, stormy days so typical of the fall. 
The heavens were gray with threatening clouds. 
Fitfully the wind moaned and sobbed, and there 
was a rawness in the atmosphere that penetrated 
even the warmest of woolen clothing. Every¬ 
thing portended the approach of a storm. 

The weather itself was enough to make one 
gloomy. But Henry, already worried sadly by 
the misfortune that had befallen him, was almost 
sick with apprehension. If only he could have 
done something toward unraveling the mystery 
that surrounded him, time would have passed 
more quickly and not so dismally. But there 
seemed to be nothing he could do except wait. 

The day’s newspapers, brought aboard with 
the mail, told of gales raging farther along the 
coast, and of storm warnings posted along the 
entire Atlantic. Evidently another gale was 
sweeping the ocean. Terrible as had been the 
storm Henry had so recently witnessed, he felt 
that he would almost rejoice at an opportunity to 
228 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


229 


go out and face another. Then there would be 
a chance to do something, there would be an 
opportunity for action. 

It seemed to Henry as though he simply could 
not endure to remain idle. Naturally he wanted 
to get to the bottom of the mystery of the field 
coil. But what he should do or what he should 
try to do he could not even imagine. To talk 
about the matter was useless. That would get 
him nowhere and advertise something that was 
known only to a few. Furthermore the captain 
himself was continuing his investigations, and 
had given strict orders not to talk about the 
affair. 

When Henry chanced to pass the stateroom 
of the wireless operators, he thought he would 
stop and inquire how Mr. Sharp was. The 
latter had quite evidently been sick the preceding 
day, though he stuck to his post. Henry 
knocked at the door. A feeble voice invited him 
to come in. Henry entered, and found the chief 
electrician alone. Belford was on watch. Henry 
did not know where Black was. It did not 
matter. He saw at once that Mr. Sharp was 
very sick. His cheeks were flushed. Henry 
stepped to the bunk and laid his hand on the 
man’s forehead. It was dry and very hot, and 
his eyes had that burned-out, almost plaintive 
look, that fever sufferers sometimes have. 


230 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


“ Why, Mr. Sharp,” said Henry, “ you’re sick; 
you’re real sick. You must have a high fever.” 

“ I guess that I am about all in,” agreed the 
chief electrician. “ I’ve been taking some dope 
that the doctor gave me for this cold, and I 
thought that I could throw it off, but I guess it’s 
got me.” 

“ Have you reported sick to the doctor? ” 

“ No. I thought a while ago that I had better 
do so, but there wasn’t any one here to take a 
message, and I felt so rocky I just hadn’t gump¬ 
tion enough to get up and go to the doctor my¬ 
self.” 

“ Let me call the doctor for you,” urged 
Henry. 

“ All right. I’ll be obliged to you.” 

Delighted to find something to do, Henry 
stepped from the room and hurried aft to the 
wardroom. There he found the doctor, who 
came at once. When the latter had taken Mr. 
Sharp’s temperature and examined him other¬ 
wise, he said: “ Sparks, it’s you for the sick bay, 
quick. What do you mean by lying here half 
dead and not sending for help? ” 

“ You can’t put me in any sick bay,” protested 
the chief electrician weakly. “ I’ve got to go on 
duty shortly.” 

At that the doctor exploded. “ Humph! ” he 
snorted. “ Duty! Yes, on a white cot! You’ll 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


231 


be lucky if you see the radio room again in a fort¬ 
night.” 

Henry saw his chance. “ Let me take your 
turns at the key, Mr. Sharp,” he begged. “ I 
promise you nothing more shall happen to the 
instruments when I am on watch. I’ll never 
leave the room for a second, after this.” 

When the chief electrician seemed to hesitate, 
Henry continued his pleading. “ Mr. Sharp, 
you don’t believe that I had anything to do with 
damaging that coil, do you? ” 

“ No, I do not,” said the chief electrician de¬ 
cisively. “ And I’m perfectly willing to have 
you go back on duty, but I don’t know what the 
skipper will think about it.” 

“ Will you ask him if I may go back on duty? ” 
begged Henry. 

“ Yes,” murmured Mr. Sharp weakly. 

Henry fairly raced for the captain’s cabin and 
told the commander that Mr. Sharp was sick and 
would like to speak to him. Captain Hardwick 
at once went forward. Henry stepped outside 
the stateroom and the captain conferred with the 
chief electrician. The result of that talk was 
that Mr. Sharp, who was now suffering from 
pneumonia, went to the sick bay and Henry again 
went on duty in the wireless house. 

The very first message he caught was an order 
from headquarters for the Iroquois to proceed to 


232 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


sea at once and take the oil tanker Rayolite in 
tow. Henry was going to have his desire ful¬ 
filled. The cutter was to go out and once more 
wrestle with the ocean. The Rayolite , an un¬ 
finished tanker, was being towed from Nova 
Scotia to New York. In the storm the towing 
tug had deserted her, and the ship was somewhere 
out on the ocean, driving helplessly before the 
wind. Her position was given in the despatch 
as approximately forty-one north, seventy-one 
west. There were some maps in the wireless 
shack, so after he had sent the message to the 
imperiled tanker Henry looked up her position. 
It seemed to be almost due east of the eastern end 
of Long Island. The wind was east of north, 
so that the helpless tanker would be blown along 
almost parallel with the coast line. Henry was 
glad of that. He did not want to see any more 
ships piled up on the shore. 

Within a very few minutes after the receipt of 
this message, the Iroquois was once more head¬ 
ing out to sea. Clad in thick woolen garments 
and oilskins, the captain stood on the bridge, con¬ 
ning the cutter through the channel. He was 
needed there. The passage, so fair and easy on 
a clear day, now called for the utmost caution. 
Lowering clouds of fog were driving in from the 
sea, increasing in density with every minute. 
Snow had begun to fall, at first coming in gusty 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


233 


squalls. Then it fell steadily, the dancing flakes 
driven in swirling clouds before the sweeping 
winds. At times the snow changed to rain, and 
was flung in blinding sheets against the little 
cutter. 

Cautiously the Iroquois nosed her way down 
the channel, the water becoming rougher and 
rougher as she approached the open sea. Look¬ 
ing into the swirling, blinding curtain of fog and 
snow, Henry did not see how the captain could 
possibly find his way. But with chart and com¬ 
pass to direct him, and his wonderful seaman’s 
sense of direction to aid him, he took the cutter 
from buoy to buoy, along the channel, straight 
out again to the Ambrose Lightship. 

With the open sea before him, the captain 
now confidently set the cutter upon the course he 
had plotted to reach, a point to leeward of the 
position forty-one north, seventy-one west, 
whither the Rayolite would likely have drifted. 
All the while wind and sea were making up, more 
and more tumultuously. In the wireless shack 
Henry tried again and again to reach the Rayo¬ 
lite . No one on board knew whether the un¬ 
finished tanker was equipped with wireless, but 
hour after hour, at intervals, Henry persisted in 
his attempt to get word from the helpless vessel. 
As the Iroquois continued on her way, the wind 
began to shift to the east, a fact that Henry noted 


234 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


with apprehension. He had seen all that he 
wanted to see of raging storms that blew directly 
toward the shore. Regardless of wind and wave, 
the Iroquois drove on through the storm, hour 
after hour, until at last, as nearly as the com¬ 
mander could tell by dead reckoning, the cutter 
had attained the desired point to leeward of the 
position forty-one north, seventy-one west. 

Long ago night had fallen. Again and again 
Henry had swept the stormy skies with the wire¬ 
less, seeking to get some answering vibration 
from the Rayolite , but always his efforts had been 
futile. Now, as the cutter rolled in the seas, at 
the point where the captain had figured the 
Rayolite ought to be, there was neither light nor 
sound to suggest the presence of another ship. 
Tumultuous waves and driving curtains of fog 
and snow shut in the Iroquois. Again and again 
Henry combed the atmosphere with his flashing 
signals, but no answering sound returned through 
the night. Henry could not see how it would be 
humanly possible to find a ship under such cir¬ 
cumstances in such a welter of raging water. 

But nothing seemed to dismay Captain Hard¬ 
wick. When he had swept the seas with his 
searchlight, and blown his siren again and again, 
without getting any response, he methodically set 
about finding the lost tanker, making a grid as 
he had done when searching for the derelict. All 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


235 


night long the cutter followed the pattern of the 
grid, and all night long the storm grew worse, 
and wind and sea made up more furiously than 
ever. The captain was very careful to lay his 
course so that mostly he was either bucking the 
heavy seas or running before them. 

Dawn brought no cessation of the storm. 
With undiminished fury it lashed the sea and 
clutched at the staunch little cutter. Nor was 
there any sign of the lost Bayolite, until young 
Black, standing his watch in the radio shack, 
caught a very faint call for help. He magnified 
the sound to the maximum, but was able to get 
nothing more. At once Henry was summoned. 
He threw over his switch and flashed out an 
answering call, asking for the vessel’s name and 
position. His message carried true, for almost 
immediately came a hardly audible answer. The 
message was from the lost tanker. She did not 
know her position. She had sixteen men aboard, 
with no machinery, no ballast, and forty feet of 
freeboard. There was little food and almost no 
water left. She had a small radio set, operated 
by a small storage battery, that might carry fifty 
miles at most. She was wallowing fearfully and 
driving helpless before the storm. 

Henry remained on watch while Black took 
the message to the captain. “ Try to get a bear¬ 
ing with the radio compass,” ordered the captain. 


236 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


Black hurried to rejoin Henry. “ Tell the 
Rayolite we want to get a compass bearing,” said 
Black. 

Henry turned to his key and flashed the call of 
the Rayolite. Hardly audible was the acknowl¬ 
edgment. “ Iroquois wants compass bearing,” 
telegraphed Henry. “ Flash letters MO con¬ 
tinuously several minutes. Stand by for answer.” 

“Will flash let-” came the reply, so faint 

that Henry hardly caught the signals. The end 
of the message was lost altogether. 

“ She’s gone,” said Henry, aghast. Then he 
added: “ Maybe she’s only gone out of hearing. 
We must be heading away from her. Tell the 
captain.” 

Black rushed for the captain. Henry turned 
to his key. Again and again he flashed out the 
call of the Rayolite, but no answering signal 
came through the storm. Without turning from 
his instruments he knew that the Iroquois was 
changing her course. She began to roll fearfully 
in the trough of the sea. Henry had to cling to 
his desk to keep from sliding out of his chair. 
Once such rolling of the ship would have filled 
him with terror. Now he thought little of it. 
He was too intent on what he was doing. 

For a long time they drove on through the 
storm. Belford relieved Black in the wireless 
shack. Suddenly Henry became aware that 



A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


237 


something unusual was happening. Again he 
sensed the fact that the ship was turning, but this 
time he knew that it was different. Now the 
motion of the cutter was terrifying. At times 
she was almost on her beams’ ends. Henry 
peered out through the windows. He noticed 
that life-lines had been run along the deck, to 
grip when passing. He had not realized how 
truly awful the sea had become. When he 
glanced over the side of the ship, his heart fairly 
stood still. They were almost in the breakers. 
Evidently the captain had been wrong in his 
reckoning. The cutter had almost piled up on 
the shoals. She was coming about, very, very 
slowly. Now Henry understood why she rolled 
so terribly. He clung to his desk and watched 
the sea and the boiling breakers in silence, fas¬ 
cinated, almost paralyzed with horror. Was the 
Iroquois going to be where the Capitol City had 
so recently been? 

At last the ship was headed about, bow to the 
sea, but the waves had drifted her so close to the 
surf that every second Henry expected to feel 
the ship jar and pound on the sands. In the 
pilot house the captain stood with nerve of iron, 
though his cheeks had gone white, directing every 
movement of the Iroquois. The instant she was 
nose to the sea, he signaled for full speed ahead. 
The cutter drove forward, and a huge wave, 


238 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


sweeping completely over her bow, tore aft along 
her deck, smashing and rending. The two small 
boats were snatched bodily from their davits and 
hurled far astern into the raging sea. A third 
was torn loose, and hung by its after-fall, swing¬ 
ing back and forth with the motion of the 
Iroquois , like a monster pendulum, pounding the 
ship’s rail to pieces. 

“Look!” cried Henry. “That boat will 
batter a hole in the side of the ship. I must tell 
the captain.” 

He dashed out of the radio house, leaving Bel- 
ford on watch. Before Henry had taken two 
steps he realized how reckless he had been to 
jump out on the deck so thoughtlessly. He could 
not stand erect without support. Wildly he 
clutched for a life-line, caught it, and started for 
the bridge. But the captain was well aware of 
what had happened. Already he was making 
preparations to cut away the swinging boat. 
Sailors were issuing on deck with axes. The 
captain himself came down from the bridge. 

“ Stand back,” roared the commander. “ That 
boat’s liable to tear loose and kill somebody.” 

Quickly a rope was tied about the body of a 
sailor, and cautiously he approached the swinging 
boat. Watching his opportunity, he swung his 
axe against the fall, severing it. The lifeboat 
dropped outboard like a plummet. An upshoot- 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


239 


ing wave lifted it and flung it aft. The sailors 
turned to seek shelter. A cross comber broke 
over the side of the ship, drenching everybody. 
Henry alone was not in oilskins. He was soaked 
to the skin. Quick as thought he darted to the 
stateroom and grabbed up a dry jacket. He 
didn’t know whose it was. Back in the radio 
shack, he drew off his own dripping coat and 
slipped on the borrowed garment. In the warm 
radio shack he knew he would soon dry out. 

Steadily the Iroquois headed into the wind. 
That outlying shoal that had all but caught the 
Iroquois was the eastern tip of Long Island. 
Well enough the captain knew that, and now he 
corrected his course. Somewhere to the south¬ 
east of this point the Rayolite would likely be. 

When he had worked far enough offshore, the 
captain changed his course again, heading west 
of south. All the while Henry was trying, from 
time to time, to pick up the Rayolite again with 
the wireless. For a long time he got no answer 
to his messages. Then came an almost inaudible 
reply. The Rayolite could hear the Iroquois 
plainly and had answered all her calls. Once 
more Henry instructed the Rayolite to sound the 
letters MO while the Iroquois tried to get a com¬ 
pass bearing. While Henry sat at his key, Bel- 
ford made his way to the radio compass room. 
This was a little, squarish structure amidships. 


240 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


Inside, the roof was lined with copper screening 
so that the body of the operator would not in¬ 
fluence the inductance and affect the compass. 
The radio compass itself, a great wrapping of 
wire on a rectangular frame, like the four sides 
of a rectangular box, was mounted on a vertical 
metal rod, so it could be twirled round in a circle. 
Encircling the revolving vertical shaft was a 
circular plate, not unlike the steering wheel of a 
motor-car, upon which were marked the three 
hundred and sixty degrees of a circle. The com¬ 
pass was at zero when its windings or wire- 
wrapped sides were parallel with the ship. As 
the compass was revolved, the listening operator 
would hear, with varying degrees of loudness, the 
signal he was watching for. Now he heard the 
sound with maximum distinctness. Again it 
grew faint, and, as he twisted the compass farther 
around the circle, the signal once more reached 
its loudest pitch. The two maximum sound 
points the operator noted on the degree-marked 
circular plate. Halfway between these two 
maximum points, or at the point of minimum 
distinctness, was the desired bearing, the point 
whence came the desired signal. A zero bearing 
meant that the signal came from either dead 
ahead or astern. 

Now young Belford carefully closed the door 
of the compass shack, adjusted the head-phones, 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


241 


and slowly revolved the radio compass. Very 
indistinct was the signal from the Rayolite. 
Again and again the young operator revolved his 
compass, uncertain when the sound came loudest, 
so faint was it at all times. But finally he de¬ 
cided upon a bearing, and through the speaking 
tube called up this bearing to the quartermaster 
on the monkey bridge. A true compass was 
located on the monkey bridge. The compass in 
the radio shack deviated from this, so that it was 
necessary to correct young Belford’s bearing. 
This the quartermaster did, and conveyed the re¬ 
sulting information to the captain. There was a 
deviation table in the radio shack that Belford 
could have consulted, but he had had little experi¬ 
ence with the radio compass. 

Now the Iroquois was headed straight in the 
direction indicated by the radio compass. Every 
fifteen minutes Henry flashed out the call of the 
Rayolite and got a reply. For some time these 
replies grew constantly stronger, and then be¬ 
came fainter, yet the ship signaled that she could 
hear the Iroquois with increasing distinctness. 
It was evident that the tanker’s wireless was fail¬ 
ing. 

Henry went up to the bridge and told the cap¬ 
tain. The captain considered a moment, and 
Henry looked about while he waited. The storm 
had abated not a particle. The view was still 


24)2 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


veiled by shifting, swirling curtains of snow, but 
the fog had lifted. The waves were tremendous, 
but as the Iroquois was no longer bucking them, 
they did not seem so terrifying. Yet the sea 
was appalling enough to one so little accustomed 
to it as Henry was. 

Suddenly the captain spoke. “ Henry,” he 
directed, “ tell the Rayolite that her signals are 
getting weaker, and that her battery is evidently 
going bad. Tell her to save her battery. I’m 
going to fire a gun every twenty minutes. Tell 
her to indicate whether or not she hears it. A 
single word will answer.” 

Henry returned to the radio shack and flashed 
the message to the tanker. A moment later 
there was a terrific explosion that made him 
fairly jump in his chair. He began to make the 
sparks fly under his key. " Iroquois just fired 
gun,” he flashed. “ Did you hear? ” 

A long pause followed. Then came the faint 
reply, “ No.” 

Twenty minutes later another shot was fired. 
Once more Henry called the Rayolite„ and asked 
if she had heard it. And again came the answer, 
“ No.” 

Three times every hour the Iroquois fired a 
shot, but for a long time the sound of the reports 
did not reach the struggling ship. Meantime 
the day was passing fast. Late afternoon came, 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


243 


and still the Iroquois had not found the helpless 
tanker. But as dusk was descending there came 
the joyful word from the Rayolite, “ Heard your 
shot faintly.” 

Again the captain called for a compass bear¬ 
ing. This time the signals from the tanker came 
much more distinctly, and the captain accord¬ 
ingly altered his course. The first faint call had 
given Belford a bearing not quite correct. The 
Iroquois continued to fire her gun. Forty 
minutes after the course was changed the Rayo- 
lite reported that she heard the shot from the 
Iroquois clearly. 

When Henry sought the bridge with this 
cheering news, the commander said, “ Tell the 
Rayolite operator to set his watch with yours. 
At five o’clock I will fire another shot. At the 
same instant you are to notify him by wireless. 
Tell him to note how many seconds elapse be¬ 
tween the time he gets your flash and the time he 
hears my gun.” 

Once more Henry called the Rayolite and ex¬ 
plained the captain’s plan. “ At five exactly we 
will fire,” concluded Henry. 

Five o’clock came. Henry sat at his desk, 
switch thrown over, finger on his key. “ Bang! ” 
crashed the gun. Flash, went Henry’s signal. 
Then he sat in silence, waiting almost breath¬ 
lessly for the reply. Five, ten, fifteen seconds 


244 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


elapsed. Half a minute went by. There was 
no reply. Another half minute passed and the 
wireless was silent. Henry looked worried. 

“ Do you suppose her wireless has failed 
altogether? ” he asked Belford. Before the lat¬ 
ter could answer, Henry’s head-phones began to 
speak. “ Sixty-five seconds difference,” came 
the reply, both brief and faint. 

When the captain received the news he did a 
little figuring. “ Thirteen miles distant,” he 
commented. “We ought to be up with her in a 
couple of hours.” 

The two hours passed, and no ship was visible. 
Still the storm raged without abatement. Night 
had come. For two days and a night the Iroquois 
had been searching the stormy sea for this tanker 
that seemed to evade her so persistently. She 
ought to be at hand, but nowhere could she be 
seen. Through the blinding storm came no sign 
of the fugitive vessel. No shaft of light pierced 
the swirling curtain of snow and mist. 

Then suddenly there was the Rayolite, almost 
abreast of them, not more than three hundred 
yards distant. It was impossible to send a line 
to her. No small boat could live in such a sea. 
It was doubtful if a shot would carry true. The 
captain swung the Iroquois directly to windward 
of the tanker, and cut down his speed almost to 
nothing. In a moment the huge ship was almost 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


245 


out of sight. With her tremendous freeboard, 
she drove before the gale almost as fast as the 
Iroquois could steam. The captain turned his 
searchlight directly on the vanishing tanker, 
signaled for more speed, and drove straight at 
her. And all night long the Iroquois steamed 
directly at the liayolite , which drove furiously 
ahead, under the pressure of the gale. The cap¬ 
tain left the bridge and threw himself on the 
cushioned seats in his cabin, to snatch some sleep. 
Henry, who had spent long, long hours on duty, 
made his way to the operators' cabin and lay 
down, fully dressed, in Black’s bed. The latter 
and Belford were to watch through the night, 
with Henry subject to call, if messages had to be 
sent. He was so worn out that he did not even 
remove his coat, the jacket he had snatched from 
the wardrobe after his wetting. 

Daylight saw no cessation of the wind, though 
the snow had ceased to fall, and no longer was 
the face of the deep clouded with mist. When 
the captain came on deck again, after a few hours’ 
rest, he pushed the cutter straight at the liayolite 
until she was close behind her. Meantime he had 
sent a wireless to the tanker, telling her to watch 
for a line. Now the little brass gun was brought 
to the cutter’s forward rail, and that sturdy little 
craft was pushed still nearer the tanker, which 
was driving ahead, broadside to. At a favorable 


246 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


moment the shot was fired, the slender shot-line 
went hurtling squarely over the centre of the 
huge tanker, and the men on her seized it and 
began to draw it home. A heavier line was bent 
to it, and soon the end of this had been pulled 
aboard the Rayolite. Meantime a heavy towing 
hawser had been passed out through a stern 
chock of the Iroquois, and the bight of it brought 
forward, outside of the rail, where it was stopped 
up or tied with little stops or small ropes. This 
was to keep the hawser from fouling the pro¬ 
peller, when the cutter should swing around, 
stern to her tow. Then the hawser was rove 
round the cutter’s forward bitts. Through 
Henry the commander now sent a message to the 
Rayolite. 

“ Take hawser in through your forward 
chock and make it fast around your foremast,” 
telegraphed Henry. 

The men on the Rayolite bent to their task and 
soon pulled the great hawser aboard. They 
made it fast to the mast. 

“ Everything ready,” came the message to 
Henry from the Rayolite. 

The captain signaled for more speed. The 
Iroquois was pushed ahead to get slack. Then 
the bight of the hawser was cast off the bitts, and 
the speed of the cutter lessened. Gradually the 
hawser grew taut. It stretched as tight as a 


A SHIP IN DISTRESS 


247 


fiddle-string. Then slowly the giant tanker, 
pressed by the wind, began to turn. The hawser, 
led through her forward chock, held her bow 
fast. The wind drove her stern round until she 
was head to the Iroquois . In another moment 
the Iroquois herself began to swing. With a 
startling snap one of the slender stops that held 
the hawser to the rail parted. Another broke 
under the strain. The cutter swung further 
around. One stop after another parted. Finally 
the Iroquois lay stern to her tow, the hawser taut 
between them, with no danger of its fouling the 
propeller. 

In turning, the little cutter lay for a moment 
in the trough of the sea. She rolled alarmingly. 
At her first pitch Henry’s chair went sliding 
across the floor, and pads and pencils flew from 
the desk. At the same instant a message from 
the Rayolite began to sound in the lad’s ear. He 
could not reach his fallen pencils. Instinctively 
he reached in the pocket of the jacket he was 
wearing. He found a mass of trash and drew it 
forth, hoping to find a pencil. There were 
strings, matches, cigarette papers, bits of chalk, 
and other articles. Among the mass shone two 
slender little cylinders of metal that made 
Henry’s heart fairly stop beating. They were 
two slender finishing nails. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


A CLUE TO THE CULPRIT 

TTITITH the call of the Rayolite sounding in 
* * his ears, Henry had to leave the nails for 
later consideration. He swept all the mass of 
stuff back into his pocket and turned to his key. 
When he had taken the message, he sent it up 
to the captain by a sailor. That done, he stripped 
off the coat and searched it thoroughly. But 
nothing else of interest was to be found. The 
coat was one of those dark blue sailor jackets. 
There were dozens exactly like it on the Iroquois . 
No name or identifying initials could be found 
in it. Henry was not really sure whose coat it 
was. Both Black and Belford had been wearing 
heavy sweaters. The coat might belong to either. 
It might even be Mr. Sharp’s coat. Henry had 
grabbed it out of the wardrobe when his own had 
got wet, with little thought as to who owned it. 

Presently Belford came on duty. “ I’m much 
obliged for the loan of your coat,” said Henry. 
“ I grabbed it and pulled it on yesterday after I 
got wet, without stopping to ask your permis¬ 
sion.” 

Belford looked at the coat a moment, then 
248 


A CLUE TO THE CULPRIT 


249 


looked inside. “ It’s not my coat,” he observed. 
“ I have my initials sewed in mine. But you'd 
be welcome to it if it were mine.” 

Henry drew a deep sigh of relief. “ So it's 
not yours, eh? Then whose is it? ” 

“ That’s Black’s, I’m sure.” 

“ I think I’ll get a breath of fresh air,” said 
Henry. 

“ That won’t be difficult. It’s blowing a 
streak, but nothing like it did yesterday.” 

Henry left the radio shack and made his way 
to the bridge. “ Captain Hardwick,” he said, 
“ when you find it convenient, I’d like to talk to 
you privately.” 

The captain looked at Henry sharply. 
“ Come to my cabin at noon,” he said. 

All the morning long the commander remained 
at his post on the bridge. The storm was easing 
up, but the high seas made the towing of the 
Rayolite difficult. Too much strain on the tow¬ 
ing hawser would cause it to part. With too 
little tension, the Rayolite was harder to handle. 
The captain, with his long experience, knew that 
he dare not relax his vigilance for a moment, but 
when mess gear was piped, he turned the control 
of the cutter over to Lieutenant Hill with a few 
words of caution, and made his way to his cabin. 

Impatiently Henry had been waiting for this 
move, and hardly had Captain Hardwick reached 


250 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


his quarters before the lad was knocking at his 
door. 

“ Well, Henry,” smiled the commander as the 
young wireless operator entered the cabin, “ what 
can I do for you? ” 

“ Do you see this jacket? ” asked Henry, with 
feverish eagerness, pulling off the garment in 
question. “ When I got wet yesterday while 
that small boat was being cut loose, I ran into 
the stateroom and grabbed this coat out of the 
wardrobe. I put it on in place of my own wet 
one. This morning I got to feeling around in 
the pocket in search of a pencil and this is what I 
found.” 

From the pocket Henry drew out the entire 
mass of rubbish and dumped it on the captain’s 
table. Then he sorted out the two finishing nails 
and handed them to the captain. “ They looked 
to me exactly like the nail Mr. Sharp found in 
the damaged field coil,” explained Henry. 

The commander examined the nails with in¬ 
terest. Unlocking a drawer in his desk, he drew 
out the nail Mr. Sharp had given him and laid 
it beside the others. The three were identical, 
though of course the one was bent. 

“ Whose coat is that? ” demanded Captain 
Hardwick. 

“ I can’t say for sure, sir, but I think it’s 
Black’s. Belford says it is.” 


A CLUE TO THE CULPRIT 


251 


“ I thought I gave orders not to say anything 
about this matter,” said the captain severely, an 
angry frown wrinkling his forehead. 

“ I haven’t been talking about it. I merely 
asked Mr. Belford if the coat was his. I didn’t 
tell him about the nails.” 

“ Who was with you when you found the 
nails? ” 

“ Nobody, sir.” 

“Nobody! Then how do I know that you 
really found them in the coat? What was to 
prevent you from putting them in the coat your¬ 
self and then bringing it to me, to throw suspicion 
on Black? ” 

Poor Henry! For a moment he looked heart¬ 
broken. Then he became indignant. “ Captain 
Hardwick,” he cried, “ do you think I would do a 
trick like that? ” 

“ It doesn’t matter what I think,” replied the 
commander. “ The fact that you found two 
finishing nails in Black’s coat doesn’t prove any¬ 
thing. There may be a dozen other coats on this 
ship with similar nails in them. Don’t you see 
that it is one thing to assert something and quite 
another to prove it? This is likely Black’s coat, 
though you haven’t proved even that. But it 
doesn’t follow that Black put the nails in his coat. 
Somebody else may have done it, even if you 
didn’t.” 


252 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

“ Captain Hardwick/’ protested Henry, 
“ don’t you trust me at all? ” 

The captain smiled. “ It isn’t a matter of 
trust, Henry. You come to me with something 
you regard as evidence against Black. I’m glad 
to have any evidence in the matter that is evi¬ 
dence, but we must be sure that it is, before we 
use it. Don’t you understand what I am driving 
at?” 

“ I see,” said Henry, drawing a breath of 
relief. “ The finding of these nails isn’t proof of 
anything. I grasp that all right. But it’s— 
suggestive.” 

“ Now you are on exactly the right tack. It’s 
very suggestive. You think that I’ve been a 
little hard on you, Henry. I want to be fair. 
Now I’ll say that I think it much more likely 
that Black would have had nails in his coat than 
that you would have had them about you. Boys 
dressed to go visiting don’t ordinarily carry nails 
with them.” 

Henry’s face evidently showed the relief he 
felt. The captain smiled again. “ It was quite 
right for you to bring me this coat,” he continued. 
“ I shall follow up this suggestion. Meantime 
I want you to go on about your work and say 
nothing about the matter.” 

Henry thanked the commander and withdrew 
from the cabin. Hardly had he left before the 


A CLUE TO THE CULPRIT 


253 


captain punched his call-bell and sent Rollin to 
summon the quartermaster. The latter was the 
captain’s prime favorite and right-hand man 
among the non-commissioned officers. 

“ Quartermaster,” said the commander when 
his helper appeared, “ immediately after I go 
back to the bridge, I want you to slip into the 
wireless stateroom without being observed, and 
search the place. Keep your eyes open, espe¬ 
cially for nails like this,” and the commander held 
out the two nails Henry had given him. “ Look 
in all the nooks and corners, the bunks, and else¬ 
where, and notice anything out of the ordinary 
that you find. Above all, as you value your job, 
don’t say a word about this to any one.” 

When Captain Hardwick passed to the bridge, 
he poked his head into the radio shack. “ Bel- 
ford,” he said, “ I want you in the chart-room. 
And I want you, Black, to stick close to your in¬ 
struments. Don’t leave them for a second. The 
Rayolite may be signaling us at any time, and it’s 
important to catch her message instantly. The 
hawser is likely to part at any moment if we 
aren’t careful. Harper is to stand watch with 
you.” 

Belford followed his commander up to the 
chart-room, where he was put to work erasing 
lines from some old charts. The quartermaster 
promptly seized his opportunity to slip into the 


254 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


stateroom, where he locked the door, hung a cloth 
over the window, and got to work. For more 
than an hour he searched everywhere and found 
nothing out of the way. But when he got to 
work in the bunks, he found, tucked securely 
away under the top mattress, a peculiar little 
hammer. He put the room to rights again, un¬ 
covered the window-pane, picked up the hammer, 
and, concealing it in the palm of his hand, 
stepped out on deck. 

He found himself face to face with the ship’s 
carpenter. A sudden lurch of the ship threw 
them together. Laughing, each grasped the 
other. As well as he could the quartermaster 
kept his fingers closed over the hammer-head, but 
the quick eyes of the carpenter saw the pro¬ 
truding ends of it. 

“ So you’re the fellow who borrowed that, are 
you? ” he said. “ I’ve been hunting all over for 
that hammer. Why didn’t you tell me you had 
borrowed it? ” 

For a moment the quartermaster was at a loss. 
He knew not what to say. Then he asked the 
carpenter to come with him to the captain. 

“ Captain,” said the quartermaster, when they 
had mounted to the bridge, “ I have some things 
I would like to tell you. The carpenter here can 
help explain them.” 

The captain stepped to the chart-room and dis- 


A CLUE TO THE CULPRIT 


255 


missed Belford, who at once departed. Then 
the captain, the quartermaster, and the carpenter 
stepped into the chart-room and closed the doors. 

“ I found this hammer under the mattress of 
the top bunk in the wireless men’s room,” ex¬ 
plained the quartermaster. “ Black sleeps in 
that bunk. As I came out on deck I bumped 
into the carpenter, here. I thought that I had 
the hammer concealed, but he caught sight of it 
in my closed fist. It seems he has been looking 
for this very hammer for some days. It belongs 
in his tool kit.” 

“ When and how did you lose your hammer? ” 
asked the commander. 

“ I was using it last Thursday. When even¬ 
ing mess gear was piped, I had not quite finished 
the job I was doing, and I left it lying with my 
work while I ate my supper. When I went back 
to finish the job, the hammer was missing.” 

“ Where were you at work? ” 

“ Close to the stairway where the men come 
down from deck, sir. I pushed my work to one 
side, where it would not be in the way, and 
stepped to the table. I wasn’t away from it half 
an hour.” 

“ The hammer was where any one could get it 
easily, was it? ” 

“Yes, sir. It was just beside the stairway. 
Any one going up or down the stairs could have 


256 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


seen it, and it was necessary to take only a step 
to one side of the stairway to reach it. Any one 
going up the steps from supper could have picked 
it up easily without being noticed.” 

“ What were you doing with the hammer?’* 

“ I was making a case for the executive officer, 
sir. He wanted a case with pigeonholes to hold 
some of his account books.” 

“ Then you were using small nails to fasten in 
the partitions with, I take it.” 

“ Yes, sir, some long, thin, finishing nails. 
They were like these, sir.” And the carpenter 
thrust his hand into his pocket, drew forth an as¬ 
sortment of nails, and fished out a finishing nail 
that was the duplicate of those Henry had so 
recently found. 

“ Give it to me,” directed the captain. 

“ It looks to me,” continued the commander, 
after the carpenter had handed him the nail, “ as 
though some one coming up to the deck after 
eating must have picked up your hammer and 
perhaps some nails with it.” 

“ I can’t say about the nails,—they were 
scattered about on the case,—but there is no 
doubt some one got the hammer.” 

“ It looks as though young Black got it,” said 
the quartermaster. 

The captain dismissed the two men. “ I don’t 
want a word said about this,” he warned them. 


A CLUE TO THE CULPRIT 257 

“ Be very careful that you do not mention it to 
any one.” 

The moment he was alone the captain turned 
to a calendar. “ Last Thursday,” he muttered 
to himself, “ was the day we got back to New 
York from Boston. Henry was on duty in the 
wireless house every minute that evening. I 
don’t know that he even got any supper. I must 
find out what Black was doing at that hour. I 
guess the best way to do it is through the quarter¬ 
master.” 

Again the quartermaster was called and in¬ 
structed to find out from the third-class wireless 
man, without arousing the latter’s suspicions, at 
what time he ate his supper on the preceding 
Thursday evening. That was not a difficult 
thing to do. Later in the day the quartermaster 
engaged young Black in conversation and turned 
the talk to the events of their run from Boston. 

“ You missed your supper the night we got in, 
didn’t you? ” asked the quartermaster. 

“ Not on your life,” said Black. “ You don’t 
catch me missing anything like that. I was one 
of the first fellows at the table.” 

“ I’ll bet I’ll be one of the first there this noon,” 
said the quartermaster. “ I’m hungry enough 
to eat a bear.” 

He said good-bye to Black and reported to 
Captain Hardwick. When the commander was 


258 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

alone, he said to himself: “ The trail grows warm. 
Black went to supper at the first pipe of the 
whistle. He likely finished before the others, 
and went out. Nails and hammer lay invitingly 
beside the stairway. Unobserved, he snatched 
up the hammer and some nails, and thrust them 
into his coat. A little later a nail of that same 
kind got into the wireless outfit. Later still, 
nails and hammer are found in Black’s posses¬ 
sion, or, what amounts to the same thing.” 

The captain frowned. “ But Black was asleep 
when that nail got into the wireless,” he com¬ 
mented. He pondered a moment. “ By George! 
I wonder if he was asleep,” he exclaimed. 
“ Everything hinges on that. How am I going 
to find out? ” 


CHAPTER XIX 


THE CULPRIT DISCOVERED 

IGHT had come before the captain left the 
bridge. As he paced back and forth he 
turned over in his mind the problem of the finish¬ 
ing nail. Black could not have driven the nail 
into the field coil if he was really asleep at the 
time he was believed to have been. Was Black 
asleep or not? How was he ever to discover? 
Again and again the commander of the Iroquois 
asked himself that question, as he moved about 
the bridge. He could see no way to solve the 
problem. 

Gradually the wind fell, and with its fall the 
sea grew less violent. The cloud rack thinned. 
Vigilantly the captain watched the sky. Finally 
what he was looking for appeared. The clouds 
parted for a space, revealing the purple vault of 
heaven, studded with shining stars. Quickly he 
seized his instruments and ascertained his posi¬ 
tion. Now he knew exactly where the Iroquois 
was. The position of the cutter was but little 
different from that in which his dead reckoning 
put her. The captain rectified his position op 
259 



260 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


the chart, and then, vastly relieved, he turned the 
cutter over to Lieutenant Hill and went to his 
cabin. The Rayolite was towing securely, wind 
and sea were growing calmer with every hour, 
and the cutter’s position was known exactly. 
He had done a hard job and done it well. No 
wonder the commander was gratified. 

If only he could handle the other problem as 
satisfactorily. But how? That was the ques¬ 
tion he asked himself over and over. Rollin 
brought the commander food. When he had 
eaten, Captain Hardwick got out the three finish¬ 
ing nails. He sat looking at them for a while, 
his brow wrinkled in deep thought. “ If Sparks 
is fit to be seen,” he said to himself, “ I ought to 
show him these. He might be able to suggest 
some course of action that would help.” 

Captain Hardwick arose and went forward to 
the sick bay. He met the surgeon at the door. 
“ How’s Mr. Sharp? ” asked the commander. 

“ He’s pretty sick, Captain, but I think he’ll 
pull through all right. He’s got a fine constitu¬ 
tion and is tough as nails. But we’ll have to 
take care of him.” 

The captain seemed to hesitate. “ I—I sup¬ 
pose it wouldn’t do to talk to him? ” he asked. 

“Well, that would depend. It would hardly 
do any harm to talk to him a moment and wish 
him a quick recovery. It wouldn’t be wise to 


THE CULPRIT DISCOVERED 


261 


talk to him, though, if your conversation would 
excite him.” 

“ I suppose it wouldn’t do,” said the captain 
regretfully. “Yet I wanted very much to talk 
to him.” 

“ I don’t want to be inquisitive, Captain, but 
perhaps if you could give me an idea of what you 
want to say to him, I could judge if it would be 
best. Perhaps, though, it is a private matter.” 

“ No, it isn’t, Doctor. It’s a matter that con¬ 
cerns us all. You are one of my official family, 
and I may as well tell you. Only please do not 
talk about it.” 

“ Of course I wouldn’t repeat what you say, 

Captain, but don’t tell me unless you wish to do 

__ ” 

so. 

“ You recall that we had a little difficulty with 
the wireless the evening we got back to New 
York from Boston, don’t you, Doctor?” 

“Yes. That was the evening Sparks, here, 
got back aboard. I heard something had gone 
wrong. But the chief electrician soon fixed it 
up, I was told. I supposed that it didn’t amount 
to anything.” 

“ In a way, it didn’t. In another way, it was a 
very serious affair.” 

“ So? ” queried the doctor. 

“ Yes. The difficulty was merely a grounded 
coil in the field. But the coil had been grounded 


262 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

purposely, and grounded by some one on this 
ship.” The surgeon was all attention. “We 
were just coming up the channel and about to 
drop anchor. It was early evening—seven 
o’clock, to be exact. Young Harper was on 
watch. He received a message for me, and, 
leaving the wireless shack, he ran up to the bridge 
to me. I read the message, wrote a reply, and 
Henry ran back to his key. A little later he 
came charging back, to say that his wireless 
wouldn’t work. I sent for the other wireless 
men. Belford was talking to the quartermaster 
beside the wheel-house. Black was fast asleep in 
his bunk. But Sharp came aboard in a few 
moments, found the trouble, and fixed the out¬ 
fit up.” 

“ That is what I had understood,” remarked 
the doctor. 

“ Next day,” continued the captain, “ Mr. 
Sharp found out what had grounded the defec¬ 
tive coil. It was this.” And the commander 
held out the bent finishing nail. “ Some one had 
driven that nail into the coil in those few minutes 
that Henry was up in the chart-room with me.” 

“ Can it be possible! ” cried the doctor, amazed. 

“ I regret to say it is. What is more, Henry 
pulled on a coat of Black’s after his ducking 
yesterday, and this morning he found these in 
the pocket of that coat.” 


THE CULPRIT DISCOVERED 


263 


“ You don’t mean it! ” exclaimed the surgeon. 

“ And what’s still more,” continued the cap¬ 
tain, “ my quartermaster found a hammer in 
Black’s bunk, that the carpenter says was stolen 
at supper time of the evening we anchored—just 
a few minutes before the coil was ruined. The 
hammer was lying, with nails like these, on the 
carpenter’s work at the foot of the stairs leading 
to the mess-table. Furthermore, Black and 
Harper had words, and Black threatened to fix 
Harper for reporting him to me. The thing 
leads to Black as straight as a string. But 
there’s one weak link in the chain of evidence: 
Black was asleep at the time this was done.” 

“ When did you say it happened? ” 

“ At seven o’clock in the evening, just as we 
were coming to anchor.” 

The surgeon was silent a moment, lost in 
thought. Then suddenly he spoke. “ I re¬ 
member it all very well. We were, as you say, 
just coming to anchor. I recall it because I had 
been sent for to look after one of the sailors who 
had crushed a finger while working with the 
anchor-chain. I remember distinctly that the 
first thing I heard, when I put my head out of the 
companion way, was the ship’s bell. It was 
exactly seven o’clock.” 

“ That’s exactly the instant Henry was scam¬ 
pering up the ladder to me,” said the captain. 


264 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

“ I hurried forward,” continued the surgeon. 
“ A few seconds later I reached the radio shack. 
A dark figure came tearing around the rear of 
that structure and almost bumped into me. The 
fellow saw me and drew back. I passed on. 
The fellow went into the radio room, for I dis¬ 
tinctly heard the door slam after I passed. He 
was evidently in too much of a hurry to shut it 
quietly.” 

The surgeon paused. “The fellow!” cried 
the captain. “ Who was he? Have you any 
idea? ” 

“ I certainly have. Although it was perfectly 
dark out on deck, I saw the man’s face clearly 
outlined against a light. It was Black.” 


CHAPTER XX 


henry’s exoneration 

\\T ITH such a line of evidence against Black, 
* * the outcome of the court-martial that 
quickly followed was a certainty. Black was 
convicted, dishonorably discharged from the 
Coast Guard service, sentenced to serve a prison 
term, and thrust into the brig, after being 
stripped of his uniform. 

Quite as naturally Henry was appointed to 
fill his place. The appointment, however, could 
not become really effective until Henry should 
receive his mother’s permission to enlist. He 
had no doubt her consent would be forthcoming. 
He had already written to obtain it, and was ex¬ 
pecting a reply soon. Everybody on board 
seemed genuinely glad when Henry was com¬ 
pletely exonerated, and nobody was more pleased 
than Captain Hardwick. He had come to like 
the lad immensely. 

“ Henry,” he said, “ I never had more satisfac¬ 
tion in appointing any one to a position under 
my command than I have in appointing you. 
If you continue to be as faithful as you have been 
so far, there won’t be any question, when your 
probationary three months are up, about your 
265 


266 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


confirmation as a permanent member of my wire¬ 
less staff. With Mr. Sharp and Mr. Belford 
and you, I shall have one of the best wireless 
staffs in the service.” 

Nor was Mr. Sharp or Belford one whit less 
pleased with the change in the wireless staff. 
Neither of them had ever liked the third-class 
radio man. When Mr. Sharp shook Henry’s 
hand in congratulation, Henry said, “ Mr. 
Sharp, I want you to teach me everything there 
is to know about wireless.” 

The chief electrician laughed. “ I can’t do 
that, Henry,” he smiled. “ I don’t know every¬ 
thing myself. But I’ll be glad to teach you all 
I do know. With two such students as you and 
Jimmy, I’ll have to hustle to keep ahead of you.” 

Even the weather seemed to rejoice with 
Henry, for the clouds disappeared, the sun came 
out clear, and the day following the rescue of the 
Rayolite was one of rare beauty. The Iroquois 
was able to quicken her speed and bring her tow 
into New York Harbor before darkness again 
fell. 

As the cutter steamed up the channel, Henry 
got into touch with Roy and flashed him the joy¬ 
ful news that the mystery of the field coil had 
been solved, and that he himself had been ex¬ 
onerated and permanently appointed third mem¬ 
ber of the radio staff. 


HENRY’S EXONERATION 


267 


There were more good things in store for 
Henry. Next day the mail boy brought him two 
letters. One was from Willie, regretting his un¬ 
foreseen absence from New York and announc¬ 
ing his speedy return; and the other was from 
Henry’s mother, giving her consent to his en¬ 
listment as a Coast Guard wireless man. 

Henry took his mother’s letter to Captain 
Hardwick. The captain smiled with satisfaction 
as he read it. “ That settles the matter for sure,” 
he said. “ This communication makes your 
appointment effective, and you are now a reg¬ 
ularly appointed member of my staff. My con¬ 
gratulations, Sparks!” 

Henry took the proffered hand. “ It will be 
a great day for me, Captain,” he said, “ when I 
am a real Sparks like Mr. Sharp. I intend to 
be. I’m going to study hard and climb up.” 

“ Your appointment is a probationary one, you 
understand,” said the commander. “ But I 
haven’t the least doubt that at the end of three 
months I shall be able to confirm it.” 

“I’ll do all I possibly can to deserve such con¬ 
firmation,” said Henry stoutly. “We wireless 
men want to help you all we can, Captain.” 

“ I wish you could help me catch some dope 
smugglers that have been bothering the custom 
officials here for a long time,” sighed the captain. 
“ But I don’t know how you could do it. These 


268 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

fellows have been bringing opium into this port 
for months from Central America, and we can’t 
touch them. Yet we are absolutely certain they 
are doing it. I just got another letter this morn¬ 
ing from the commandant of this district, urging 
me to increase my vigilance.” 

“ Who are the fellows that bring in the opium, 
and how do they do it? ” asked Henry. 

“ The most notorious outfit is the steamer 
Orient, that plies between New York and 
Panama.” 

“ How do you know she brings in opium? ” 
asked Henry. 

“ Well, we don’t really know it. We know the 
stuff gets in, and we know it comes from Panama 
by ship. The captain of the Orient has a shady 
reputation and associates with men known to be 
dope handlers. He never loses any of his crew, 
and that is suspicious in itself.” 

“ I don’t understand,” said Henry. 

“ Oh, sailors go from boat to boat. They are 
a roving lot, and it is seldom that a ship’s master 
can keep the same crew any length of time. But 
there’s something so attractive about service on 
the Orient that men seldom leave her. It isn’t 
because of the high tone of life aboard, either, for 
they’re a rummy lot on that ship. We figure 
they are all in on the opium business, and that the 
captain lets them share in the profits. That’s 


HENRY’S EXONERATION 269 

the only explanation we can see for the situa¬ 
tion.’’ 

“ Why don’t you stop the Orient before she 
gets into the harbor and search her? ” asked 
Henry. 

“ We would do that, but her master is foxy. 
He has a habit of appearing in the harbor hours 
before he is expected. He’s here before we know 
he’s anywhere near New York. There’s no use 
searching him after he’s in the harbor, for he 
probably passes his stuff out to fishermen or 
boatmen before he reaches the Narrows. Likely 
he drops it overboard, with buoys to mark it, so 
his confederates can go out in small boats and 
pick it up. We figure he must do it this way, 
for the custom guards have watched his ship at 
her pier as a cat watches a mouse-hole, and they 
can never get a thing that is suspicious.” 

“ Why don’t you get a compass bearing on the 
Orient while she is at sea? ” asked Henry. “ Then 
you could steam out and intercept her.” 

“ Sounds easy, but she won’t answer radio 
calls. That’s another suspicious thing about her. 
When she does give her position, as she some¬ 
times does to her owners, we have found that she 
almost always gives a false one. She’s nearer 
port by a good deal than she says she is. We ve 
tried lots of times to intercept her, and that’s the 
way she fools us. If we had nothing else to do 


270 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

but catch the Orient, of course we’d get her. 
But you’ve seen enough in your brief stay aboard 
the Iroquois to know that the Coast Guard is a 
pretty busy organization. We don’t have the 
time necessary to devote to a little matter like 
this. Yet this smuggling ought to be stopped.” 

Henry was all afire with the problem of help¬ 
ing his captain catch the crooked commander of 
the Orient . He could think of nothing else all 
that day. Finally an idea popped into his head. 
“ Captain Hardwick,” he said, as soon as he could 
find the commander, “ wouldn’t the Navy Yard 
wireless help us out? ” 

“ Help us out? What do you mean? ” 

“ Why, to catch the Orient, to be sure.” 

The commander laughed. “ Are you still 
thinking about that? ” he said. 

“ Of course I’m thinking about it. You said 
you wanted help.” 

“ Well, bless my stars! ” cried the commander. 
“ Let’s hear all about it. How is the Navy 
Yard wireless to help us catch the Orient? ” He 
was laughing good-naturedly, but he began to 
look interested as Henry unfolded his plan. 

“ Why couldn’t the Navy Yard sound the 
Orient's call and keep on sending at intervals, 
whether she answered or not? ” 

“ Doubtless the Navy Yard could, but what 
good would it do? ” 


HENRY’S EXONERATION 


271 


“ Why, sooner or later curiosity would get 
the better of the Orient's operator and he’d 
answer.” 

“ By George! He might. And what then? ” 

“ Ask him some question that he would be 
likely to answer.” 

“ What, for instance? ” 

“ Well, if you asked if the Orient had seen 
anything of some long-overdue steamer that sails 
the same waters the Orient does, wouldn’t he 
answer that? There is certainly nothing in such 
a request that would arouse suspicion.” 

“ That might work,” said the captain thought¬ 
fully. “ It’s a thing that’s often done. And 
the Navy Yard could call other boats far away 
from the Orient and ask the same question. 
That would make it even less suspicious. Yes, 
I believe that would work. The question is, Are 
there any boats that sail to southern waters that 
are now overdue? ” The captain paused in 
thought. “ I believe there are two,” he con¬ 
tinued. “ If we got the Orient, we could ask her 
position. It wouldn’t matter whether she gave 
it correctly or not. It would keep her wireless 
going and give us more time to get a good com¬ 
pass bearing. I believe we’ll try it.” 

The captain got into his launch and went 
ashore. He was gone a long time. When he 
returned, he called Henry to his cabin. “ We’re 


272 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


going to try your plan,” he said. “ The Navy 
will call the Orient, and, if an answer is received, 
will get a compass bearing and let us know where 
the ship is and when she will arrive at Ambrose 
Lightship. We can meet her and search her. 
You will likely hear the Navy Yard call the 
Orient if you keep your ears open.” 

Henry informed his fellow-watchers in the 
radio shack as to what was afoot, and an element 
of interest was added to their watches. Also he 
asked Mr. Sharp if he might try for a compass 
bearing himself, in case the Orient was heard. 
“ I’ve already used a radio compass,” said Henry. 
“ They had one at Frankfort, but that was a long 
time ago, and that instrument would now be con¬ 
sidered antiquated.” The chief radio man was 
pleased to have so eager a pupil, and instructed 
Henry in all the principles of the latest radio 
compass, such as the one on the Iroquois . 

By good luck Henry himself was on duty and 
caught the very first call for the Orient . “ WND 
—de—NAH,” signaled the operator at the 
Navy Yard. 

But there was no reply. Again and again the 
watchers on the Iroquois heard the call of the 
Orient flung out by the operator in the Navy 
Yard. Finally the ruse succeeded. The Orient's 
operator could stand it no longer. He answered 
the call. When he did, Henry flew to the com- 


HENRY’S EXONERATION 


273 


pass shack, while Belford kept the watch. Again 
and again, as the Navy men talked to the Orient, 
Henry revolved his compass until he was certain 
he had the ship’s position, which he plotted on 
the map in the radio room. The Orient had also 
given her position. This time Henry saw she 
had told the truth. The position she gave 
agreed with that which he had caught on the 
radio compass. Evidently she didn’t care to 
play crooked with the Navy Yard. Eagerly 
Henry waited to see what the Navy Yard opera¬ 
tor would report. His report, of course, would 
have to come by telephone. It would never have 
done to send it by wireless, lest the Orient might 
hear as well as the Iroquois . The captain sent 
Lieutenant Hill ashore to receive this telephone 
communication. When, finally, Henry learned 
what the Navy Yard operator had to report, he 
found that his own compass bearing agreed 
almost exactly with it. He was delighted that 
he had been so accurate. 

According to the calculations from the Navy 
Yard, the Orient could not possibly arrive at the 
Ambrose Lightship before daybreak, but Cap¬ 
tain Hardwick was not willing to take any 
chances with a man he knew to be as slippery as 
the commander of the Orient. Accordingly he 
got the custom inspectors who were to accompany 
him, dropped down the Bay during the night, 


274 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

and lay at anchor near the lightship, waiting for 
the opium carrier. 

Daybreak found the Orient, true to her reck¬ 
oning, approaching the Iroquois . The latter 
signaled to her to stop. Promptly the Orient 
hove to, and Captain Hardwick sent two small 
boats, containing the half dozen custom inspec¬ 
tors and a dozen of his own crew, to search the 
southern freighter from stem to stern. 

The commander of the Orient was plainly 
taken aback. Before he fully realized what was 
happening, the boarding parties from the 
Iroquois were swarming up the Orient's ladder. 
Like oil on water, they spread to all parts of the 
ship, before the crew could make a move to con¬ 
ceal anything. Captain Hardwick knew what he 
was about when he sent twice as many of his tars 
aboard as there were custom inspectors. The 
able seamen made a dive for the forecastle and 
began a systematic search of the sailors’ living 
quarters. Some of the custom inspectors sealed 
up the cargo holds, so these could be in¬ 
spected leisurely at the dock later on, while 
others were examining the quarters aft. It was 
soon evident that the search would require much 
time, so the workers settled down with grim per¬ 
sistence, while the crew of the Orient passed 
jokes at their expense and went as far as they 
dared in taunting the unsuccessful searchers. 


HENRY’S EXONERATION 


275 


On the Iroquois , meanwhile, time passed 
slowly. There was nothing for the sailors to do 
but sit about and wait for the return of their 
comrades. In the radio house both Belford and 
Harper were trying to possess themselves in 
patience. They sat with their feet up on the 
desk, talking, with the wireless coupled up to the 
loud speaker. Whenever a message sounded, 
they paused in their talk to listen. 

“ Just hear that. You might think it came 
from next door,” said Henry, as a sudden signal 
fairly burst from the loud speaker. “ Only that 
isn’t the Orient's call.” 

OIN was calling RET. “ They’re queer 
calls,” commented Belford. “ I never heard 
either before.” 

RET answered OIN almost immediately, and 
in another instant the message was booming in 
the loud speaker. Belford copied it as it came. 
“No fish to-day. Held up by sharks. All safe 
aloft.” 

“ Well, that’s a queer message,” said Henry. 
“ Some fishermen with a wireless outfit, I sup¬ 
pose, telling a customer he has nothing for him. 
Probably been out in a gale, and escaped damage 
to his top-hamper. I can’t understand about the 
sharks, though. They might scare away the fish, 
but I don’t see how they could hold up a boat.” 

They resumed their conversation. Time 


276 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

passed. After some hours one of the small boats 
returned from the Orient, with some of the 
sailors. The remainder, and the custom officials, 
were still aboard. It had been decided to pro¬ 
ceed to New York without further loss of time. 
The search would continue during the run, and 
the sealed cargo holds could be examined at the 
pier. 

Slowly the Orient got under way and headed 
for the harbor, convoyed by the Iroquois . When 
they were halfway up the channel, the two lads 
in the radio shack paused again to listen to 
another message from the loud speaker. RET 
was calling OIN, and the signal sounded weak 
and far away, but when OIN replied, the signals 
fairly screeched from the loud speaker. 

“By George!” cried Henry. “That OIN 
must be mighty close at hand. The call could 
hardly be louder if it came from the Orient here. 
I’m curious to know where it does come from.” 

When RET began sending, Belford again 
wrote down the message. “ Put fish in trap 
when leaving port. Glad top-hamper safe.” 

“ Jiminy crickets! ” said Belford. “ That’s a 
funny one. OIN says he has no fish for RET, 
and RET turns around and tells him to put the 
fish in the trap when he leaves port. That 
doesn’t sound sensible to me.” 

He shoved the scraps of paper bearing the 


HENRY’S EXONERATION 277 

messages over to Henry. Jimmy had written 
the messages close together, like this: 

RET de OIN: “No fish to-day. 
Held up by sharks. All safe aloft.” 

OIN de RET: “ Put fish in trap when 
leaving port. Glad top-hamper 
safe.” 

Henry looked at the sheet of paper lazily for 
a moment. Then he almost sprang out of his 
chair. “Look, Jimmy!” he cried. “See how 
the letters of those two calls combine.” He 
pointed to the signals his companion had written 
down at the commencement of each line. “If 
you begin with O, then jump up to R, and keep 
on moving from bottom line to top, you get the 
word 4 Orient.’ I believe we’ve caught some¬ 
thing important.” 

Belford pulled the paper toward himself and 
studied the riddle. 44 Jiminy crickets! ” he cried. 
44 You’re right, Henry. What do you suppose 
it all means? I thought from the first that there 
was something queer about those calls.” 

44 Well,” replied Henry, 44 it is perfectly 
evident that OIN must be mighty close at hand, 
the way her signal comes cracking in. That’s 
just the way a signal would sound from the 
Orient . And RET is either very far away, or 
else has a weak little set. Inasmuch as we are 


278 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


going into port and the message seems to be to a 
customer, I’d guess that the customer has a 
weak little outfit—probably a home-made affair 
run by dry cells. But what all this stuff about 
fish and sharks means, I can’t guess.” 

“ Do you suppose we ought to bother the cap¬ 
tain with it? ” 

“ It won’t do any harm. If this message was 
from the Orient, it has some hidden meaning, 
and of course the captain ought to know about 
it.” 

“ Suppose you take it to him, Henry.” 

Henry grabbed up the sheet of paper and went 
to the captain. “Bless my stars!” ejaculated 
the captain, when he had read the two messages. 
“ This is as good as a Sunday newspaper puzzle. 
And it’s about as easy to guess. Fish would 
mean opium, of course; and if sharks are the 
things that held back the opium, I reckon either 
we or the custom men are the sharks. Maybe 
they meant Sparks, eh? ” And the captain 
laughed merrily at Henry. 

“ Maybe Sparks will stop them, after all,” 
grinned Henry. 

“ Let’s turn it into plain English,” continued 
the captain. “ 4 We cannot deliver any opium to 
you to-day because the custom officials have 
grabbed us. Everything is safe aloft.’ Now 
why should he tell his customer that his rigging 


HENRY’S EXONERATION 279 

is still all right? What has that to do with 
it?” 

“ I don’t know, Captain, unless it has some¬ 
thing to do with the opium.” 

“ By George! ” cried the commander. “ Let’s 
put it that way. We’ll read the message all over 
again. 4 We cannot deliver you any opium to¬ 
day because the custom officials have grabbed us. 
But the stuff is safe aloft.’ ” 

“ Do you suppose it means that? ” cried 
Henry, much excited. 

“ You can guess as well as I can. Now let’s 
go on with this thing. What does the answer 
say? Let’s see.” The captain bent over the 
paper again and read, 4 4 4 Put fish in trap when 
leaving port. Glad top-hamper is safe.’ ” He 
paused and chuckled. 44 Plain as day, isn’t it, 
Henry? 4 Put your opium in the trap when you 
leave the harbor. We’re glad your opium is 
safe.’ If we haven’t guessed their little riddle, 
I’ll eat my hat. Come on, we’ll see whether we 
are right or not.” 

The commander went on deck. Jimmy 
flashed an order for the Orient to heave to again. 
A small boat was lowered and in a few moments 
the commander of the cutter stood on the deck 
of the freighter. The searchers looked grim. 
The Orient 3 s crew were grinning. 

44 What success? ” asked the captain. 


280 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


“ None,” said the leader of the custom officials. 

Captain Hardwick removed his cap and began 
to scan the top-hamper of the Orient . He saw 
that the forward crow’s-nest was unusually large 
and commodious. He called two of his sailors. 
“ Boys,” he cried, “ skip up the rigging and take 
a look in those crow’s-nests. Make sure there 
are no false bottoms in them.” 

The crew of the Orient lost their grins, as the 
sailors from the cutter hustled up the rigging. 
“ Nothing here,” called down the sailor who had 
mounted to the after crow’s-nest. The man on 
the forward mast did not answer so promptly. 
He was measuring with eye and arm the inner 
and outer dimensions of the big crow’s-nest. 
Suddenly his eye caught sight of a nail, bent like 
a hook, that projected above the flooring at one 
edge of the crow’s-nest. He crooked a finger 
under it and pulled. The whole floor came up. 
Beneath it, packed tightly together, were enough 
cans of opium to fill several suit-cases. 

“ The stuff is here, Captain,” called the sailor. 


CHAPTER XXI 


AMONG THE ICEBERGS 

A FTER the discovery of the opium, Captain 
^ Hardwick took his sailors back to the 
Iroquois, along with the confiscated drug, leaving 
the custom inspectors aboard the Orient, to 
search the sealed cargo holds at the pier. Off 
Staten Island the Iroquois dropped behind the 
freighter and was soon swinging once more at her 
anchor. 

For some time she lay there undisturbed. The 
seas were calm and no emergency calls came to 
the little cutter. Henry was delighted at that, 
for Willie had returned, and the two boys and 
Roy now were able to see each other frequently. 
At any of his four-hour periods off duty Henry 
was free to slip over to Manhattan, and so cordial 
was the feeling now existing among the wireless 
men on the Iroquois, that either Jimmy Belford 
or the chief electrician was willing enough to 
work overtime on occasion to give Henry a bit 
more freedom. They knew well enough that he 
would gladly reciprocate when need arose. 
Many a night now saw the three boys from 
Central City happy together in the snug wireless 
281 


282 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


cabin of the Lycoming . It was, indeed, a great 
joy to them to be so near one another. 

Winter came, and with it winter cruising. 
For periods of a week or ten days the Iroquois 
and her sister cutters cruised on the open sea, 
some patrolling along the shores to prevent the 
landing of alcoholic drink, some standing off 
dangerous coasts, to be on hand should vessels 
become endangered. No unusual storms arose 
that winter, but all the time it was boisterous out 
on the ocean, for the winds never ceased, and the 
sea was in perpetual turmoil. 

Christmas found Henry thus at sea. For 
him it was a memorable Christmas, too, because 
it was the first one he had ever spent away from 
home. He felt a bit blue about it, but fought 
down the touch of homesickness that came to him. 
Perhaps the sea helped him to do that. On this 
particular day the ocean was tremendously 
rough. The cutter had worked far to the north¬ 
ward, and all day long had pitched about as 
Henry had never seen her pitch before. The 
cooks had prepared a goodly Christmas dinner, 
but it could not be served at the table. Instead 
it was passed out in chunks, to be eaten from one 
hand, while with the other hand each man clung 
to anything that offered support. The sea was 
so rough one could hardly stand without a prop. 

It was a foretaste of what was to come in the 


AMONG THE ICEBFRGS 


283 


following spring, when the Iroquois went to the 
Grand Banks, on ice patrol. When the great 
ice fields of the frozen north disintegrate, and 
huge icebergs float south, passing through 
the steamer lanes, and so endangering steamship 
traffic, it was part of the work of the Coast 
Guard to protect shipping from these menacing 
mountains of ice. One Titanic disaster was 
enough for the world. 

When it came time for the Iroquois to relieve 
the Oneida in the ice fields, the ship was made 
ready and the long voyage begun. At Halifax 
the cutter touched to refill her water tanks and 
renew her stores. Then she headed northeast 
into the region of fog and storm and tremendous 
moving mountains of ice. 

As long as he lives, Henry will never forget 
that journey through the tossing, fog-shrouded 
sea. For days on end the sun had not shone. 
No stars were visible at night. The dull gray 
sea and the dull gray clouds, with the thick 
shrouded mists, lent a leaden tone to life which 
was like nothing Henry had ever known. On¬ 
ward, league after league, day after day, the little 
cutter rolled and pitched, tossed by a sea the like 
of which Henry had never imagined. 

Only by dead reckoning could the commander 
tell where he was. He had so recently left Hali¬ 
fax that he could not be so very far astray in his 


284 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


calculations. But the Oneida had not been able 
to take a sight for three weeks, so it was not sur¬ 
prising, therefore, that when she gave her posi¬ 
tion to the Iroquois by wireless, and the Iroquois 
proceeded to the given spot, no cutter was to be 
seen. When Captain Hardwick found that the 
Oneida was not at the given position, he wired: 
“ Iroquois is at the meeting point named. Will 
await you.” And at once the Oneida flashed 
back the reply: “ There is some mistake. We 
are at the position named. Will await you.” 

What a puzzle this situation would have been 
in the days before the radio compass was in¬ 
vented, and what a game of blind man’s buff 
those two little cutters would have played among 
the fogs and mists and icebergs of the Grand 
Banks. But now Captain Hardwick simply 
telegraphed the Oneida to remain at anchor and 
give him a compass bearing. Soon Mr. Sharp 
came out of the compass shack and told the com¬ 
mander which way to go. That was all there 
was to it. A few hours later the two ships lay 
side by side. The Oneida, unable to see the sun 
for so long, was a great distance from the posi¬ 
tion she thought she occupied. 

As Henry was to learn, there was great reason 
why a ship should float far and wide in this region 
of moving mountains of ice. The Grand Banks, 
formed by the deposit of sediment carried north 


AMONG THE ICEBERGS 


285 


by the Gulf Stream, are enormous eminences in 
the bottom of the sea, like huge mountain pla¬ 
teaus rising in a vast valley. These banks rise 
upward to within two hundred feet of the ocean’s 
surface, while the bed of the sea around them is 
thousands of feet deep. Naturally these great 
banks of sand deflect the sea currents. The 
Gulf Stream itself bends farther to the east. 
There are currents and cross currents, and wind 
and sea are often terrible beyond description. 

Icebergs float with seven-eighths of their bulk 
submerged, so no large bergs can ever cross the 
Grand Banks; they are too deep for the shallow 
waters there. But in the deeper parts of the sea 
they stream southward from the polar ice fields 
in droves, scattering in every direction with wind 
and current. Some go with the Labrador cur¬ 
rent. Coming south, some swing up again and 
go northeast. Others continue straight on down 
to the shipping lanes. Some get into the Gulf 
Stream and are further deflected from their 
courses. And all these companies of icebergs, 
scattered over vast areas, one little cutter is sup¬ 
posed to watch and guard. Of course she can¬ 
not herd them together and drive them away 
from the shipping lanes, but she can and does 
drive ships away from the icebergs. She does 
this by wireless. 

Day after day the Iroquois cruised among the 


286 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


bergs, charting the position of each, noting the 
currents in which each floated, trying to plot the 
probable course of each moving mountain of ice. 
And every four hours the man at the wireless key 
sent flashing abroad a detailed warning to ships, 
telling where each menacing berg was located 
and what course it would probably take. And 
at night the Iroquois lay at rest, floating upon 
the bosom of the deep. It was dangerous 
enough to run through the ice fields in the day¬ 
time, when concealing mists made vision well- 
nigh impossible. To steam through them at 
night would be almost suicidal. 

Anxious days were these for the commander 
of the Iroquois . At any moment his little cutter 
was likely to be disabled merely by the violence 
of the sea. At any moment the ship might crash 
into some fog-shrouded berg. Ceaseless vigi¬ 
lance was necessary to insure safety. 

Almost greater vigilance was required to keep 
track of the huge bergs. Some of them towered 
two hundred feet in air, which meant that they 
were many hundred feet deep. Continually 
they were “ calving,” or throwing off great 
shoulders of ice, called growlers. Every time a 
berg calved, its centre of gravity was disturbed 
and its contour altered. It rode at a new angle. 
Thus the berg that to-day resembled a cathedral 
might to-morrow look like a storage warehouse. 


AMONG THE ICEBERGS 


287 


Yet it was necessary, for the purpose of scientific 
observation, that each southward-floating berg be 
definitely identified. Oceanographers were now 
aboard the Iroquois, to study this matter of ice¬ 
berg drift, that shipping might be better pro¬ 
tected in future years. It was necessary that 
they should know each berg they met, no matter 
where they encountered it. But to recognize a 
berg that was continually altering its own ap¬ 
pearance was an accomplishment that not even 
the learned oceanographers possessed. As yet, 
no way to identify bergs had ever been devised. 

But Captain Hardwick was a resourceful man, 
and one day he declared that he had solved the 
problem. “ I’m going to paint them,” he de¬ 
clared. His hearers laughed incredulously. 
But the captain cared little for their amusement. 
He ordered some shells brought from the mag¬ 
azine and some paints from the storeroom. 
Then, under the captain’s personal supervision, 
the gunner loaded shell after shell with paint. 
Bright reds and greens and blues and other star¬ 
tling colors were used. When all was ready, the 
captain smiled with satisfaction. “ I’m going to 
try it out on the very next berg we see,” he 
laughed. 

An hour later the lookout announced that a 
berg was visible. It took the cutter more than an 
hour to reach it, however, for it was sixteen miles 


288 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


away. It was two hundred and fifty feet high, 
and Henry was so astonished at this enormous 
mass of glittering white ice that he could find no 
words to describe it, or his astonishment either. 
The Iroquois worked up close to the berg, a spot 
was selected by the captain to aim at, high up on 
the broad side of the monster, the gunner elevated 
and sighted one of the guns, and a charge of paint 
went shooting out of a cannon’s mouth. A 
second later the shell crashed against the lofty 
berg, and a huge crimson stain began to spread 
over its side. Then the Iroquois steamed around 
to the other side of the berg and repeated the 
dose. “ If that doesn’t do the trick,” laughed 
the commander, “ my name isn’t Hardwick.” 

They were still calling the commander by that 
name a week later, however, for when the 
Iroquois had cruised the length of her beat and 
was returning, she again came upon the crimson¬ 
sided ice mass. A cross current had brought it 
back close to where it had been painted. Other 
bergs were tinted with other colors, and there 
was something new under the sun. The wire¬ 
less broadcasts now warned vessels to look out for 
the berg with the green, or the red, or the blue 
sides. A way had been found to brand these 
monsters of the deep. 

But of all his experiences in the ice fields, noth¬ 
ing so much interested Henry as the destruction 


AMONG THE ICEBERGS 


289 


of a huge berg that came wallowing down from 
the frozen north and went ploughing straight 
along toward the tropics. Apparently neither 
wind nor sea nor any other agency could turn 
this menacing mountain of ice aside from its path. 
Down to the northern steamship lane it went, and 
the Iroquois went with it, warning all shipping 
of its presence. It was enormous. It towered 
more than two hundred feet in air, and was hun¬ 
dreds of feet long and huge in width. It did 
not break up into growlers when it reached the 
warmer parts of the sea, as most of the bergs did, 
but kept on, implacable, menacing, terrible. 

Through the northern steamer lane and on to 
the southern lane, the huge block of ice steadily 
made its way. Thus it endangered ships going 
both to and from European ports. But the 
Iroquois stayed by the giant berg and warned all 
ships of the danger. When it reached a point 
farther south than the Iroquois' own port, and 
still did not disintegrate, the commander of the 
cutter took steps to break it up by artificial 
means. 

A small boat was lowered, and two mines, each 
containing fifty-two pounds of TNT, were 
loaded aboard, with firing batteries and other 
necessary equipment. Then Lieutenant Hill, 
with a picked crew of oarsmen, manned the 
boat, towing behind it a float with a sail attached. 


290 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


The party made its way to windward of the berg, 
where the mines Avere suspended from the float, 
so that they hung about eight feet beknv the sur¬ 
face of the water. The sail on the float was 
spread, and while the wind drove it toward the 
berg, the sailors pulled in the opposite direction. 
But the matter was not so simple as it seemed. 
The backlash of the sea kept the raft from reach¬ 
ing the great mass of ice, and, instead of hitting 
it, it floated to one side and on toward the open 
sea. 

Lieutenant Hill caught the raft, and now an 
attempt was made to toAv it across the face of the 
berg with a buoyed line, the toAv rope being kept 
up at intervals with life preservers. But all 
about the base of the berg, like detritus at the 
bottom of a precipice, were great quantities of 
slush ice, little groAvlers, and the like, so that the 
mine could not be dragged against the main berg. 

Then an effort was made to drive spikes into 
the side of the ice, so that the mines could be hung 
to them. It Avas dangerous business, standing 
up in a tossing little boat, Avith a possibility of 
being pitched out and crushed betAveen it and the 
berg, but the sailors made the attempt without 
mishap—and Avithout success. All efforts to 
drive anything into the ice were futile. It broke 
under the hammer bloAvs, and no nail could be 
forced into it. 


AMONG THE ICEBERGS 


291 


Next a grapnel was tried. The small boat 
was forced through the slush ice at the foot of 
the berg until a place was found where a little 
ledge in the shoulder seemed to offer a chance for 
a hold. The grapnel was thrown, but it slid off 
into the water. Again and again the effort was 
repeated. Each time it failed. The hooks of 
the grapnel would not catch in the slippery ice. 

The backlash of the sea constantly showered 
the small boat with spray. All hands were 
soaked. The firing batteries became wet and 
useless, and the lieutenant put back to the Iro¬ 
quois for fresh ones. 

“ I’m going to try the grapnel again,” he called 
up to the commander, after making known his 
need for dry batteries. 

“ Captain Hardwick,” said Henry, “ why not 
shoot a line over that berg? Then one could 
hang a mine on the other end of it on the far side 
of the berg.” 

The captain leaned over the rail of the cutter 
and called down to the lieutenant: “ Never mind 
about the grapnel. Our able third-class radio 
man says to shoot a line over the berg, so bend 
your energies to that. I’ll get you a shoulder 
gun. It’s worth trying.” He sent a man for 
both the battery and the gun, and the two were 
passed into the rowboat. 

Back to the berg went the little craft. When 


292 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

it was close beside the middle of the berg, the 
lieutenant put the gun to his shoulder, while a 
sailor made sure that the line would run free. 
At a favorable moment the lieutenant fired high 
over the mass of ice. The projectile flew true, 
whisking the line after it. The small boat was 
brought close to the base of the berg, a weight 
was attached to the end of the shot-line, and then 
the boat rowed round the berg and picked up the 
other end of the line. 

The lieutenant now had something to which to 
attach his mines. Together they weighed more 
than one hundred pounds. Carefully these were 
bent to the shot-line and lowered until they rested 
against the base of the ice, thirty feet below the 
surface of the sea. The small boat pulled far 
away, and the shot was fired. The report was a 
muffled roar. Immense quantities of ice came 
crashing down from the titantic shoulders of the 
berg, with thunderous reverberations. The 
sound was startling. The mountain of ice itself 
began to rise, the huge bulk lifting straight up 
out of the water, as though a giant hand were 
pushing it from beneath. Ten feet it rose, then 
twenty, and yet it continued to lift. At thirty 
feet there was a sharp crack, and the huge mass 
broke fairly in halves. Then it fell back into the 
sea, throwing out an enormous wave. Each half 
was a third as large as the original berg had been. 


AMONG THE ICEBERGS 


293 


The remaining third was the broken ice that had 
come rattling down from the giant’s shoulders. 

For the first time in history an iceberg had 
been destroyed by artificial means, for within 
twenty-four hours the two huge chunks of this 
monster had completely disintegrated. Nothing 
but small growlers and slush ice encumbered the 
sea. TNT had been more than a match for the 
ice king. 


CHAPTER XXII 


VICTORY 

T70R two weeks the Iroquois herded the floes 
of ice. Then the Oneida relieved her and the 
Iroquois sailed to Halifax, where she renewed her 
supplies and equipment preparatory to another 
two weeks of struggle with the army of the ice 
king. So it went for long months, but finally 
the last of the bergs disappeared. The Oneida 
had already gone back to Boston. Now the 
Iroquois bade farewell to the fogs and storms of 
the Grand Banks and gleefully headed for her 
home anchorage in the shelter of old St. George. 

But ere she reached her longed-for haven, duty 
once more turned her prow away from home. 
The little cutter, driving as fast as steam and the 
eagerness of her crew could send her, was far off 
the New England coast when, shortly after even¬ 
ing mess one foggy day, Henry picked out of the 
air that ever-startling call, “ QST—QST—QST 
— QRT — QRT — QRT — SOS — SOS — 
SOS—SOS—SOS: Steamers Wilmington and 
Hiawatha in collision. Position sixty-four ten 
west, forty-three north.” 

It was the Wilmington's operator who was 
sending. The instant he signed off, Henry’s key 
294 


VICTORY 


295 


was sounding. He flashed the Wilmington s 
call, KGD, and asked, “ Do you require assist¬ 
ance? ” 

“ Yes,” came the answer. “ Require assist¬ 
ance immediately.” 

Henry called a sailor and sent the message to 
the commander. Then he returned to his key, 
and again signaled the Wilmington. “ How 
badly are you hurt? ” he queried. 

“ Wilmington s bow crushed. Number one 
hold full of water. Hiawatha s stern damaged. 
Propeller broken. Hiawatha in tow. Making 
for Halifax. Speed three knots an hour.” 

The sailor came hurrying back with a message 
to the Wilmington. Henry handed him the 
communication he had just received, and flashed 
out the message the sailor had brought, “ Cutter 
Iroquois to your assistance. Hardwick, Com¬ 
mander.” 

With all the speed he could muster, Captain 
Hardwick was coming, too. On through the fog 
and the dark the little cutter went rushing as fast 
as steam and muscle would drive her. In the 
engine-room grimy oilers tended their machines 
as carefully as a mother watches her babe. Like 
demons the firemen fed the furnaces, and the 
coal-passers worked unceasingly. Through mist 
and fog and surging billow the Iroquois drove on 
and on. At ten minutes of nine Henry caught 


296 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

another call, “ Same course. Going about on 
account bad steering. Call first fifteen minutes 
each hour.” 

An hour later came the cry, “We have stopped 
now. Unable to proceed. When can we expect 
you? ” 

By every means at his command the captain 
of the Iroquois tried to hasten the little cutter, 
but already every soul on board was working at 
top capacity. Under forced draught, in heat 
almost unbearable, the men in the fireroom fed 
and stoked the fires with an energy well-nigh 
superhuman. From stem to stern the little cut¬ 
ter trembled and shook with the intensity of her 
efforts. Never had she traveled faster, yet hours 
must elapse before she could reach the injured 
steamers. Reluctantly Henry sent the discour¬ 
aging word. And hardly had he finished, before 
there came to him the startling call, “ Have you 
anything for me? Antennas may soon carry 
away.” 

It was just ten o’clock. Both Mr. Sharp and 
Jimmy had joined Henry in the wireless shack. 
They looked at one another with questioning, 
fearful eyes. 

“ She must be damaged more than we 
thought,” said Mr. Sharp. “ God grant she 
stays afloat till we get there.” 

At ten thirty-five came a reassuring flash from 


VICTORY 


297 


the Wilmington: “ Have cast loose from the 
Hiawatha . Cannot steer. Heading into wind. 
Will proceed as wind abates. Water not gain¬ 
ing. Antenna? will carry away soon. Will 
answer your light by rockets. Will fire rockets 
every half hour.” 

Jimmy rushed the message to the commander 
on the bridge. Mr. Sharp began to look very 
sober. “ She must be worse than we think,” he 
repeated. “ I can’t understand why her antennas 
should be about to carry away. It must be blow¬ 
ing hard. A storm is coming where she is. I’m 
afraid of that wind. Her forward bulkhead is 
all that keeps her from sinking; it confines the 
water to her number one hold. But if the sea 
makes up, the pressure will smash that bulkhead, 
sure. The Hiawatha's helpless now. She’ll 
drift fast before the wind. We’ve certainly got 
our work cut out for us.” 

Grave, indeed, was the face of the commander, 
when he learned what had occurred. “ Tell Mr. 
Sharp to get into communication with the 
Hiawatha at once,” he directed, “ and have her 
keep in touch with us. The Wilmington is 
evidently much more badly injured. We must 
go to her first and get her men. We’ll steam 
for the Hiawatha the minute we have rescued 
them.” 

On rushed the cutter. Through fog and dark 


298 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


she drove, fighting with every ounce of her power 
to win her way to the side of her crippled sister. 
Without, the night was black as pitch. From 
the sea came that ominous, moaning sound that 
betokens a storm. Aloft the cordage shrieked 
and wailed. As the ship rushed on, the wind rose 
steadily higher. 

At eleven thirty-five came the message, We 
are firing rockets now.” 

At midnight the Wilmington sent her position. 
In all her hours of struggle she had won but piti¬ 
fully few miles toward safety. When Henry 
had copied down this message, he laid aside the 
head-phones and surrendered his place to Jimmy. 
He had worked two hours overtime, but no one 
in the radio shack had given a thought to time. 
They were tense with anxiety about the 
Wilmington. Now Henry took his message to 
the captain. Mr. Sharp told him he had better 
get some sleep, but sleep was impossible. Every 
minute the wind was coming stronger, and the 
sea was getting up. The thought of those 
wretched sailors, waiting helplessly for the 
Iroquois, their vessel likely to sink at any 
moment, moved Henry powerfully. Never 
could he forget the sight of those poor fellows 
from the Iroquois that he had seen struggle so 
hard for their lives in the sea off Cape Cod. The 
men of the Wilmington might at any moment be 


VICTORY 


299 


in the same situation. With such thoughts surg¬ 
ing through his excited brain he could not sleep, 
so he returned to the radio shack. 

At half-past three in the morning a rocket was 
seen. Long before this the Iroquois had broken 
out her searchlight, shooting a great finger of 
light through the darkness ahead, then pointing 
the beam upward toward the heavens, so that it 
could be seen afar. The cutter rushed on, crew 
and commander heartened by the streaks of fire 
that now shot heavenward at intervals in the 
darkness ahead. By four o’clock the Wilmington 
herself could be seen plainly, and a little while 
later the Iroquois lay close alongside, her search¬ 
light playing on the injured ship. 

The freighter’s prow was bent, and she had 
settled a little forward, but otherwise she ap¬ 
peared to be in good condition. On the far side 
of her was a gaping hole in her nose that was not 
visible from the Iroquois. She looked as though 
she were still good for a struggle. 

But the crew of the cutter had not long to 
speculate about the condition of the disabled ship. 
Down from her davits dropped the huge lifeboat 
full of men. A moment it paused alongside, 
while the sailors who had manned the falls slid 
down them into the boat. Then the little craft 
was shoved clear of the crippled ship and pulled 
over to the Iroquois . Up the side of the cutter 


300 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


the frightened sailors scrambled like terrified 
sheep. Plainly they were foreigners. And the 
commander of the Iroquois opened his eyes wide, 
when he noted that many of them were English¬ 
men. He was not surprised that the others were 
panic-stricken. 

The captain of the Wilmington was the last 
man to come aboard. His expression was piti¬ 
ful. “ I could have saved my ship,” he cried, “ if 
it had not been for this cowardly crew. The 
forward hold is full of water, but the bulkhead 
is holding well. We could have made Halifax 
in a few hours.” 

The executive officer was standing by. “ Cap¬ 
tain Hardwick,” he said, “ will you allow me to 
take a volunteer crew and work the Wilmington 
into Halifax? It’s a crime to abandon a ship 
like that.” 

“ You may try it, Mr. Harris, if you wish.” 

The executive officer turned and faced the 
crew of the Iroquois, who were gathered forward 
of the ladder. “ How many of you are willing 
to help me work the Wilmington into Halifax? ” 
he cried. 

The crew sprang forward as one man. The 
commander of the Wilmhigton strode over to Mr. 
Harris. “ I’m going back with you,” he said. 
Half a dozen of the Englishmen followed. 
“ We’re with you, Captain,” they said. 


VICTORY 


301 


The executive officer chose twenty men from 
the crew of the Iroquois . They climbed down 
the ladder into the Wilmington s waiting boat, 
the Englishmen following. The executive officer, 
who had been below all the evening, drew off his 
low shoes and began to pull on high laced boots. 

Henry ran out of the radio shack. “ Please, 
may I go? ” he cried. 

“No,” said the executive officer. “ This is no 
place for boys.” 

Henry fell on his knees and began to lace up 
the executive officer’s boots. “ Please, Mr. 
Harris,” he pleaded. “ You can’t get along 
without a radio man.” 

“ The Wilmington s own radio man is going 
back,” said the executive officer shortly. 

“ But he will need a relief.” 

“ Not before we reach Halifax.” 

“ Then let me go and sling chow. You haven’t 
any mess boy. I can do other jobs between 
meals.” 

By this time the executive officer was almost in 
the boat. He took a last look upward. 

“ Please, Mr. Harris,” pleaded Henry, 
“ please let me go.” 

“ Come on, then,” growled the executive 
officer. “ But it’s no place for boys.” 

Eagerly Henry followed his leader into the 
waiting boat. The craft was pushed away from 


302 THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 

the cutter and strong arms soon carried her 
alongside the Wilmington. In a few moments 
more the lifeboat swung at her davits, and the 
volunteer crew had scattered to their respective 
posts. Slowly the crippled ship got under way. 
She seemed to ride safely, and the prospects for 
saving her were excellent. For a little while the 
Iroquois lay motionless, while her commander 
studied the movements of the Wilmington. 
Then, satisfied that she could make her goal, 
Captain Hardwick signaled the men in the 
engine-room, the cutter began to move, and soon 
was steaming steadily away from the Wilming¬ 
ton, to begin her search for the Hiawatha. But 
Captain Hardwick had not seen the gaping hole 
in the far side of the Wilmington s nose. 

On board the Wilmington every one was work¬ 
ing at top speed. Men who had never passed 
coal before, now hustled fuel for the furnaces. 
The few experienced firemen in the volunteer 
crew were supplemented by inexperienced men. 
The engines were tended, the pumps were kept 
running, the ship was navigated, and all was done 
with heroic determination. Even the firemen, 
like everybody else, worked double shifts. The 
man who was to cook passed coal for hours, then 
washed and made hot coffee and sandwiches, 
which Henry passed to the men to munch while 
they labored. Then Henry went below to pass 


VICTORY 


308 


coal. Everybody on board was working with 
dogged determination. They were going to get 
the Wilmington into Halifax if it was humanly 
possible. 

Nobly the crippled freighter responded. 
She forged through the waves faster and faster 
until she was making seven and a half knots an 
hour. With satisfaction Mr. Harris sent the 
good news to the commander of the Iroquois. 
But even at seven and a half knots an hour, the 
Wilmington had a long journey before her, and 
all the while the sea was rising. 

Dawn came, but no sun followed to light the 
day. The mists and fogs increased. The wind 
bellowed with ever-increasing force. The seas 
mounted upward, higher and higher, and with 
every passing hour the storm grew worse. Vi¬ 
ciously the waves crashed against the broken nose 
of the Wilmington. Slower rode the crippled 
steamer, and slower still. Both wind and seas 
held her back, and her commander dared not 
drive her with the full power of his engines. 
The strain on the bulkhead was terrific. 

Noon came. The Wilmington was still mov¬ 
ing, though slowly. The Iroquois had found the 
Hiawatha and taken her in tow. The Oneida 
was rushing out from Boston to help. At regular 
intervals the Wilmington s wireless man sent 
some message to the Iroquois. By early after- 


304 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


noon these became alarming. The pumps were 
no longer holding their own, and water was gain¬ 
ing in the hold of the Wilmington. By two 
o’clock the disabled ship was down by the head. 
She could no longer buck the seas. 

A little later her commander wired to Captain 
Hardwick, “ Am trying to steam backward.” 

When he got the message, Captain Hardwick 
was worried, indeed. “ They’ll never make it,” 
he declared to Mr. Sharp. “ Ask the Oneida to 
hurry. We shall likely have to abandon the 
Hiawatha and go back to the Wilmington” 

On board the Wilmington, the volunteer crew 
was making a superhuman effort to carry on. 
The attempt to steam backward was unsuccess¬ 
ful. Lower settled the nose of the ship. It was de¬ 
sirable to make a sea anchor, to hold the ship’s 
head to the waves. But now the combers were 
crashing over the settling bow of the steamer, 
and water was pouring into her hold through 
hatchways. It was impossible for men to go 
below and get the materials necessary to make 
the sea anchor. Disabled, sinking steadily lower 
in the bow, the crippled vessel now rolled help¬ 
lessly in the sea. It was merely a question of 
time until she should go under. 

At three o’clock the Wilmington flashed a mes¬ 
sage to the Iroquois. Mr. Sharp went white 
when he read it. “ We are rolling helplessly 


VICTORY 


305 


and settling fast. Vessel is doomed. Am pre¬ 
paring to abandon ship. Will remain till last 
minute. Need help immediately.” 

The instant Captain Hardwick read the order, 
he cast loose from the Hiawatha and headed 
about to save his own men. He sent a reassur¬ 
ing message to the Wilmington, then another to 
the Hiawatha, telling her to make a sea anchor, 
and keep in touch with the Oneida , which would 
reach her in a few hours. 

All the while wind and sea grew worse. But 
little did the commander of the Iroquois care. 
He had weathered many a storm that was worse 
than this. He thought of only one thing: he 
must get to his men. Relentlessly he pushed the 
cutter. He drove the crew. He was every¬ 
where, thinking of every contingency, preparing 
for every emergency. He had the sick bay pre¬ 
pared. He got cots and medicines in readiness. 
He warned the cook to be ready with hot drinks 
and food. Men and ship alike responded to the 
dynamic influence of their commander and drove 
the ship at a pace incredible. 

As the sturdy cutter tore her way through the 
seas to reach the Wilmington, that doomed vessel 
sank lower and lower in the head and rolled ever 
more helplessly in the waves. Yet she floated. 
The bulkhead still held. The pumps could still 
be operated, and the volunteers were working 


306 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


feverishly to keep up steam and keep the pumps 
at work. Even though the water gained, it 
gained but slowly. 

Darkness came. The cutter was still far 
away. There were few rockets left to fire, but 
every half hour one was shot skyward. A great 
flare was made on deck, but with waves and spray 
dashing over the ship it was difficult to keep the 
beacon burning. All the while the wireless men 
kept in touch with the Iroquois . At times 
Henry relieved him. 

“ We are listing very badly,” he called. “ We 
cannot stay afloat much longer. How long will 
it take you to reach us? ” 

Afar off, the watchers on the Wilmington 
could now discern the beam from the searchlight 
of the Iroquois, like a great pencil of light reach¬ 
ing from sea to sky. Slowly it grew more dis¬ 
tinct, but, oh, so slowly. The efforts to keep the 
beacon burning were redoubled. Once more 
Henry sent flashing a cry for help: “We are 
sinking fast.” 

Meantime, with some planks from one of the 
after holds, the men had made life rafts. These 
were placed close to the stern, ready to be pitched 
into the sea at a second’s warning. A single boat 
remained—the one that had brought the crew 
from the Iroquois . All the others had been lost, 
some in the collision, while others had been torn 


VICTORY 307 

away by the waves as the Wilmington rolled in 
the trough of the sea. 

On came the Iroquois, though she was yet far 
away. “We are leaving immediately,” Henry 
signaled at the direction of Mr. Harris. “We 
have made some life rafts. Stand by to pick us 
up.” 

When he had sent the message, Henry re¬ 
joined his commander on the after deck of the 
Wilmington, where all the men were now gath¬ 
ered. The bow of the freighter had sunk alarm¬ 
ingly. The big lifeboat still swung at the Wil¬ 
mington s davits, but these were peculiar, and 
held the boat so that every roll of the ship threat¬ 
ened to submerge the little craft. To save it 
from destruction, it was necessary to get it into 
the sea. 

“ Stand by to lower the lifeboat,” shouted Mr. 
Harris. 

The boat was made free and brought even 
with the rail. Every member of the Wilming¬ 
ton's own crew now on the ship piled into it. 
One sailor from the Iroquois leaped after them. 

“ Lower away,” called the executive officer at 
a favorable moment, “ but be sure not to cut the 
painter.” 

Yet no sooner was the little craft afloat than 
one of the freighter’s panic-stricken men whipped 
out his knife and severed the line that held her 


308 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


to the steamer. Like a shot she was flung far 
from the side of the Wilmington . The men on 
the Iroquois , waiting to slide down into the life¬ 
boat, were left stranded on the deck of the sink¬ 
ing vessel. 

“ Pull her back,” roared the executive officer. 

The men in the lifeboat bent to their oars, but 
they were only merchant sailors, and knew little 
about handling oars. They were utterly unable 
to sweep the lifeboat up against the wind. 
Though they pulled hard, the craft was driven 
steadily farther and farther away in the dark¬ 
ness. In a moment it was lost to sight. 

“Quick!” cried Mr. Harris. “Over with 
your life rafts.” The sailors leaped to the rafts 
and slid them over the rail into the sea. 

“ After them,” shouted the executive officer. 
“ It’s your last chance. She’ll sink in a minute. 
Catch your rafts and swim away, or the suction 
will take you down.” 

Into the sea went the sailors, leaping from the 
Wilmington's rail far, far out into the heaving 
waters. In a moment only Henry and his com¬ 
mander were left. 

“ Over with you, Harper,” ordered the execu¬ 
tive officer. “ Try to get to one of the rafts.” 

Henry looked out over the side of the ship. 
All was inky darkness. The Iroquois could be 
seen coming on apace, but she was still one thou- 


VICTORY 


309 


sand yards away. The winds were lashing the 
sea with fury. The tumult of the waters was 
terrifying to hear. Henry was frightened as he 
had never been before, but he did not lose his 
head. “ I will go when you go,” he said. 

In his hand Mr. Harris held a long-barreled 
flash-light for signaling, with a patent contact 
strip about the handle. Now through the black¬ 
ness of the night he was sending flashes of light, 
to direct the oncoming cutter. Astonished, 
Henry saw that his commander was sending a 
message just as he himself had learned to do 
through the cutter’s blinkers, with dots and 
dashes of light. He stood motionless and read 
the message, “ Please hurry. My men are in the 
water.” 

A feeling of inexpressible admiration came 
over Henry. Here was a man voluntarily risk¬ 
ing his life to save his men. As calmly as though 
he were safe ashore, instead of standing on the 
threshold of death, the executive officer continued 
to flash his directing signals. Then another 
thought came to Henry. “ He’s a Coast Guard 
officer. So am I. I’ll try to act like one.” He 
became calm. And as he watched his big supe¬ 
rior, so quiet and unafraid, fearful only lest the 
Iroquois should be too late to save his men, some¬ 
thing of the same feeling of strength and courage 
came to Henry. 


310 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


“ I’ll stay by him to the end/’ he muttered. 

He had not long to wait for the end. The 
Wilmington suddenly began to settle rapidly by 
the head. Her bulkhead had given way and the 
sea was rushing in. As the freighter settled, she 
likewise turned. The executive officer crawled 
aft, out over the taffrail, and continued his 
signaling. A sweep of his torch, as he crawled 
to the rail, revealed his feet. He was still clad 
in his heavy boots. 

“ You haven’t taken your boots off, Mr. 
Harris,” said Henry, quietly; and whipping out 
his knife, he knelt once more at the feet of this 
man who was above fear, cut the laces, and 
dragged off the heavy boots. Before he had time 
to remove his own shoes there was a terrific crash 
as the boiler exploded, and the stern of the Wil¬ 
mington suddenly rose high in air. 

“Jump!” shouted the commander; “and 
swim as far away as you can.” 

He clutched Henry’s hand. Together they 
leaped far out from the ship. In another second 
they were deep under the chilling water, and 
Henry was fighting to reach the surface. 

He came up gasping for breath. The ship 
was just plunging beneath the waves. Above 
the roar of the winds Henry could distinguish 
the sucking noise as she disappeared. He felt 
himself pulled toward the spot where the ship 


VICTORY 


311 


had been. With all his might he strove against 
the suction. Presently he felt that he had 
struggled free from it. He swam about, calling 
for Mr. Harris. After a few minutes he heard 
an answering call in the darkness. It was his 
commander. Rejoiced, he swam toward the 
sound. Presently he bumped into something. 
It proved to be one of the life rafts. He got up 
on it and called to Mr. Harris. The latter 
swam to the raft and got on. No one else was 
to be seen. From time to time they heard 
shouts. 

The Iroquois was now near at hand. On she 
came at full speed. With her searchlight she 
was sweeping the waves. When she came to the 
first of the men in the water, she hove to. One 
after another her boats were lowered until all 
were afloat. In the bow of each rode a sailor, 
armed with a powerful light. Over the waves 
coursed the little boats, calling, searching, rescu¬ 
ing, for man after man was plucked from the 
foaming waters and lifted to safety. Finally 
one of the boats came toward the executive officer 
and Henry. The two shouted in unison. Their 
cries were heard, and the boat came rapidly 
toward them, but long before it reached them a 
sudden wave came crashing over the raft and 
Henry lost his grip and was swept off into the 
tumultuous sea. 


312 


THE WIRELESS OPERATOR 


He struggled to fight his way back, but he was 
almost paralyzed with cold and worn out and ex¬ 
hausted. He feared he could never make it. 
Suddenly he found himself in a grip of iron. 
The executive officer had swum after him. They 
regained the raft. Desperately now Henry 
clung to the planks, while his superior officer held 
fast to him with his legs, all the while clinging to 
the planks with his hands. The small boat came 
up and the two were lifted aboard. 

What happened after that Henry hardly 
knew, but presently he found himself in the 
engine-room of the cutter. He was being 
stripped and rubbed. Some one was giving him 
hot coffee to drink. 

When he was able to get about the ship, he in¬ 
quired for the others who had been in the sea. 
The lifeboat, so clumsily manned, had capsized, 
and one of the English sailors had been drowned. 
Every other man who had gone to the Wilming¬ 
ton had been rescued. He learned that the 
Oneida had found the Hiawatha and that both 
boats were safely on their way to Boston. 

Two days later the Iroquois lay peacefully at 
her anchor off St. George. Rollin came to the 
wireless shack looking for Henry, who had 
entirely recovered from his hard experience. 

“ The captain wants to see you, Mr. Harper,” 
he said. 


VICTORY 


313 


Henry rose and made his way to the cabin, 
wondering what the commander wanted now. 

“ I suppose you will be going to see your 
friends at your first opportunity, Henry/’ said 
the captain. 

“ Indeed I shall, sir.” 

“ You’ll have a lot to tell them,” smiled the 
commander. 

“ Won’t they be surprised when they hear all 
I’ve got to say! ” 

“ Mr. Harris has been telling me about the 
last moments of the Wilmington ” continued 
Captain Hardwick. “ Of course your proba¬ 
tionary period was up long ago, as you know, 
Henry, but you haven’t had a chance to see your 
friends since then. It occurred to me that when 
you tell them you have passed your probationary 
period satisfactorily, you might like to add 
that Captain Hardwick says you have quali¬ 
fied for the Coast Guard in every way. Do you 
understand, sir? In every way.” 

“ Thank you, sir,” said Henry. “ Thank 
you very much; ” and with heart beating high he 
marched from the cabin and made ready to go 
over to Manhattan to tell Willie and Roy the 
news of his permanent appointment as third-class 
radio man on the good ship Iroquois . 































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RADIO STORIES BY 

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